The researchers looked at sequence diversity of a specific gene (melanocortin receptor 1 locus) controlling coat color in wild Asian and European boars and in domestic pigs. They discovered that the camouflage color was maintained by synonymous substitution in wild pig genes for hundreds of thousands of years, but in domestic animals, the gene has had as many as nine mutations. The mutations affecting coat color occurred within the past 10,000 years ago—after pigs were domesticated.
The researchers argue that that is because coat color variation was directly selected for by humans, which makes perfectly reasonable piggy sense. A wild pig would likely survive better in the wild were she to stay hidden; while a human might very well want her pigs to be identifiable.
More on Pig Domestication More on King Bladud King Bladud is a mythical royal figure from British history who is said to have discovered the healing powers of the Bath springs, where he (and his pigs) were cured of leprosy. King Bladud's Pigs in Bath was a public art event in the summer of 2008, in which 105 wooden pigs were individually decorated and sold at auction for the benefit of Bath's Two Tunnels Greenway Project. Sales of the pigs raised at least £200,000 last summer.
All 105 pigs from summer 2008 are illustrated on the pig page on the official King Bladud's Pigs in Bath website.
Maybe not this variegated. King Bladud's Pigs, Bath, England. Photo by Fred Boniface
A paper on pig (Sus scrofa) genetics published in January 2009 in the journal PLoS Genetics (and therefore yippee! open access) points out that, although wild Asian and European boars have coats that are uniformly camouflage-colored, the coats of domestic pigs are quite variegated.
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