# Is this "Wild Hog" for real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396 "2004-07-29T04:19:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/1 "2004-07-29T04:19:21Z")
[Take a look at this “wild hog.”](http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20040728%2F2116129565.htm&sc=1110&photoid=20040728GAEM101) Read the story. The first thing that comes to my mind is “bullshit!” Anyone with any common sense would at least keep the beast’s head. I find the fact that he buried it right away quite suspicious. Keep in mind that museums and scientists will pay money for rare zoological specimens such as that big hog. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/2 "2004-07-29T04:20:36Z")
Maybe that photo is posed so as to make the animal look larger than it actually is? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/3 "2004-07-29T04:57:10Z")
I think ol’ Chris is funning us. There’s a tradition of this sort of thing in south Georgia. The head was “too big to bother mounting?” Yeah, a lot of trophies get lost that way, I bet. For other such fun, Google Altamaha-ha. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/4 "2004-07-29T10:09:37Z")
Heads are only “too **big** to bother mounting” if they’re orbiting the planet, and easily seen in daylight. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/5 "2004-07-29T10:58:55Z")
> [@](#): > > The hog is nearly twice as long as the 6-foot-tall Griffin, who is seen standing next to it in the photo. No, it isn’t; His head comes to about the midpoint of the beast’s body, but that’s because the thing is strung up and _he’s standing in a fucking hole in the ground!_. It looks like a large domestic pig smeared with mud to me. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/6 "2004-07-29T11:17:27Z")
Well if he just buried it on his property why not dig it back up to show people. The bones will still be there at least. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/7 "2004-07-29T13:14:31Z")
He’s behind the hog in the picture, but I can’t tell how far behind. If he’s 2 inches behind, that’s a big pig. If he’s ten feet behind, it’s a…well, it’s a pig. If it is real, look up top. A rather manly specimen. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/8 "2004-07-29T13:37:51Z")
If you click on it, you get a larger image - he is standing behind the animal, but his right hand is touching the animal’s foreleg, so he isn’t more than a foot or two behind). I just imported the image and did some empirical measurements (based on the 6ft height of the human) - from the tip of its toe to the tip of its snout, the animal is almost exactly ten feet long (not twelve), but that is because it is stretched out - from tail to snout, it is 7’8" and would probably have been a few inches shorter when it was alive and not strung up like that. So yes, it’s a biggish pig - but pigs do actually routinely get frighteningly large, contrary to what many people think from watching the movies - this animal is not a ‘zilla’, by any stretch of the imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/9 "2004-07-29T14:14:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > it is stretched out - from tail to snout, it is 7’8" and would probably have been a few inches shorter when it was alive and not strung up like that. > > So yes, it’s a biggish pig - but pigs do actually routinely get frighteningly large It’s a big pig. At \> 7’ it’s up there with the largest wild pigs in the world, the, [African giant forest hog.](http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodactyla/Hylochoerus_meinertzhageni.html). The maximum weight listed for those is ~600 pounds for a 7 footer. The hunter’s thousand pound figure seems too high. With a pig density of around 1 g/cm[sup]3[/sup], the pig would have to take up the same volume as about 2.5 55 gallon drums of water. It doesn’t look like it does. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/10 "2004-07-29T14:30:05Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > The hunter’s thousand pound figure seems too high. With a pig density of around 1 g/cm[sup]3[/sup], the pig would have to take up the same volume as about 2.5 55 gallon drums of water. It doesn’t look like it does. It looks just like an ordinary domestic pig to me. > [@](#): > > [_Sus scrofa_ (wild boar)](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Sus_scrofa.html) > > Weight averages 50 to 350 kg, though some domestic breeds can attain weights of 450 kg. 450 kg (990 lb) is pretty close to 1,000 lb. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/11 "2004-07-29T14:33:40Z")
Hm, going by looks, it looks like a Yorkshire, same breed as the cute baby pig in Babe…they are called ‘white’ but all that really means is that they are light haired, and mostly the pinkish skin color shows through. They are known for being one of the larget pig breeds out there…and as a side note, often feral animals are larget than normal because they are not slaughterd young, but can be older and more mature specimins…I raised turkeys a few years ago, and after 3 years [most turkeys are axed at less than half that age] the largets tom was about 44 pounds/20 kilo and stood almost 2 times as tall as a ‘normal’ ready for slaughter bird of 12-20 lbs. I have seen poland china pigs that topped 300 lbs, and were larger than a shetland pony at farm displays at fairs…so I can believe a monster boar of half a ton and a mature 10 years or so… ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/12 "2004-07-29T14:34:43Z")
I’m such a sap. I googled pig hunting in NZ to see what the average weight was here (pigs have no predators in NZ…well other then hunters and their dogs) and instead I found this story. It made me weep like the girly I am. Read it …its a lovely but sad story. [http://www.fly-fishing-guides-new-zealand.co.nz/hunting-dogs.htm](http://www.fly-fishing-guides-new-zealand.co.nz/hunting-dogs.htm) Put me off looking for pig stuff though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/13 "2004-07-29T15:41:53Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > It’s a big pig. At \> 7’ it’s up there with the largest wild pigs in the world… I don’t think it is a wild species of pig; the article calls it ‘feral’, implying an escaped farmed variety or descendant thereof. That’s if it isn’t just a huge farmed boar that the guy bought, smeared with mud and photographed himself with. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/14 "2004-07-29T16:07:25Z")
It certainly is SOME PIG though. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/15 "2004-07-29T18:40:40Z")
For what it’s worth, there was a picture of a guy with a 1080 pound feral hog going around the internet a few years back. The blurb said that he shot near Junction, Texas, and the picture looked fairly convincing. I’ll do a search and see if I find it. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/16 "2004-07-29T18:53:11Z")
:eek: Egads, at that size it might be a good idea to do a necropsy and see if they can account for any missing persons… ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/17 "2004-07-29T18:59:39Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I think ol’ Chris is funning us. > > There’s a tradition of this sort of thing in south Georgia. The head was “too big to bother mounting?” Yeah, a lot of trophies get lost that way, I bet. I agree. I work in a taxidermy shop and I’ve yet to hear _that_ excuse. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/18 "2004-07-29T19:10:38Z")
I’m counting the nanoseconds before someone chimes in with a critque of the dreadful Photoshopping skills of the presumed hoaxster. Has a thread like this ever been posted without such comments? Anyway, I’m keeping an open mind. Still, the thing that stirs up my scepticism is this: What is the pig hanging from? There appear to be no trees nearby; furthermore, the species in the background appear too scrawny to hold the monster, especially so far from any off-camera trunk. The subjects seem to be out in a field without buildings in the vicinity, and I can see no evidence of a crane or scaffold or A-frame – not even a shadow. All of the above make me suspect it’s a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/19 "2004-07-29T19:13:52Z")
All “wild” hogs in the US are feral, being escaped farm animals or descendants thereof. Which is why (contrary to the OP’s notion) no museum is going to “pay money” for this animal. “Wild” hogs in the US are generally regarded as (very) destructive pests. The specimen shown is a very big hog, but not astonishingly so. Hogs are very large animals when mature. The cute pigs like Babe you see in the movies are immature animals. It often happens down here in Georgia that a “wild” hog shot in the woods turns out to be some farmer’s escaped hog, and that may be the case here (which might explain the _alleged_ quick burial - to keep the farmer from finding out, identifying his hog, and making a claim for damages). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396/20 "2004-07-29T19:19:54Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > What is the pig hanging from? There appear to be no trees nearby… Presumably, the hog is strung up from the backhoe described in the story, which was used to bury it. The same backhoe that would have dug the big hole the man is standing in. One other point. This hog is nowhere near 1000 pounds, any more than it is “twelve feet long.” It is obvious from the photo that the hog is not as big as described. Haven’t you folks ever heard of a fish story? The plantation owner is wildly exaggerating the size of his kill. (Did you think they took a scale into the woods and weighed it?) it’s just a big hog, made bigger by the hunter’s tall tales (which were swallowed without skepticism by the reporter). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-wild-hog-for-real/257396.md?page=2)