At first glance, you can’t tell if the newest guests at the Tropical Wings Zoo in Essex, Great Britain, are sheep or pigs. Known as Mangalitza or curly-hair hogs, these woolly sheep pigs come from the mountains of Austria and Hungary and are the beginning of a Mangalitza breeding program, an attempt to save the rare and endangered species of adorable sheepiggy. As it turns out, the curly coat that makes them so cuddly is also a crucial survival mechanism and a natural method for confusing tourists to no end.
“At first sight people think they are sheep,” said Denise Cox, the education coordinator at Tropical Wings. “Everybody who walks past them stops because they want to know if they are pigs or sheep. It is not until they turn around and you see their faces and snouts you realise they are in fact pigs. The woolly coat makes them very hardy and helps them to survive in the harsh winters in their native Austria and Hungary. In the summer it helps protects them from sunburn.”
While saving the endangered pigs is all well and good, I’m sensing a great commercial enterprise in the making. If you could somehow combine the sheep-pig with the teacup pig, you’d have a little furry bundle of adorable that everyone would want to buy! Make this happen, science.
Tags: woolly pigs, pigs covered in wool, pigs that give wool, unusual animals, Tropical Wings Zoo, Essex, Great Britain, unusual pigs, Mangalitza pigs, woolly sheep pigs, Denise Cox