Throughout history, humans have preferred their pigs to be black, suggests study
Wednesday, September 7, 2016 - 14:32
in Biology & Nature
An international team of researchers studied the mitochondrial DNA and MC1R gene sequences in tissue samples collected from 57 modern feral Hawaiian pigs. They found a novel mutation in all the black-colored pigs which is different to the mutation in European and Asian domestic pigs with black coats. This finding suggests that for thousands of years, humans in different parts of the world have been independently selecting and breeding pigs for their black color.