Canadian Wild Pigs Building 'Pigloos' To Survive Winter
When it comes to pigs, you can't believe everything the mainstream media tells you. They're much more than nature's Shop-Vac and the backbone of regional barbecue. These curlicue curmudgeons are way stronger, faster, smarter and more resourceful than we give them credit for. They can take a bullet and keep on charging at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, via Texas A&M Agrilife, grow up to 500 pounds, breed faster than a TLC reality show star, bite through bone, and oh so much more. Wilbur from Charlotte's Web hogged all the fame, but pretty much all pigs are exceptional enough to have words written about them on the web.
Unfortunately, truffle is brewing throughout North America as feral hogs rampage through farmers' crops, endangering delicate ecosystems and causing billions of dollars of damage each year. In the eyes of most citizens, hogs have become nothing more than common "snoutlaws," which is why they've taken to living in hideouts like "pigloos."
Boars boring tunnels
Among the many talents of wild hogs is the ability to burrow like a Graboid from Tremors, according to Narcity. "To stay warm during the winter seasons, wild pigs will burrow deep into the snow, creating tunnels with snow on top acting as insulation." The result is a pigloo.
The pigloos also make it much harder to spot a burrow, ensuring hunters and conservationists struggle to find them. Feral hogs are so abundant that it is generally encouraged to control their population to reduce the number of babes made — a sentiment which also applies to the Babe film series.
"The growing wild pig population is not an ecological disaster waiting to happen," Ryan Brook, the University of Saskatchewan's lead researcher for the Canadian Wild Pig Project told USask News, "it is already happening."
So, if you see an igloo in the woods, don't assume it's a pygmy Eskimo hut — it's probably a porcine palace. Call up a wildlife expert, or Billy Bob from down the road, and you might have earned yourself a lifetime supply of pork chops.