• Question: do you believe in flying pigs? if not do you think they will ever evolve?

    Asked by lillymatthews to James, Marcus, Martin, Rob, Suzanne on 13 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by solycool, jazzy1512.
    • Photo: Robert Thompson

      Robert Thompson answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      I’m pretty sure their is no evidence for flying pigs so I have to say sorry, I don’t believe in them.

      Will they ever evolve? As far as I understand for pigs to evolve the ability to fly you’d need two things;
      1. A lot of time,
      2. Pigs who developed the ability to fly to be more advantageous than those that can’t….

      I’m not a biologist though, but I’ll believe in flying pigs when…. well, when pigs fly, ha ha

    • Photo: James Boone

      James Boone answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      I don’t think pigs have the need to fly, they’ve evolved to be land animals with four legs and no sign of any wing growth. They seem pretty happy rolling around in muck anyway.
      Besides, if pigs could fly, would the price of bacon go up? 😀

    • Photo: Martin Zaltz Austwick

      Martin Zaltz Austwick answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      There’s a rule, I think, about how big a flying beast can be. At a certain point the muscles it would need to get it in the air would be so heavy it couldn’t take off! So no flying porkers. Unless we can find a way to inflate them with Helium.

    • Photo: Suzanne McEndoo

      Suzanne McEndoo answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I don’t believe in flying pigs, no.

      Could they evolve? Hmm, I think a lot of things would have to change about the pig for it to fly. Would it sprout wings out of it’s back? Or would it have to convert two of it’s legs into wings? It would probably have to be lighter, and more streamlined. It may have to change the way it takes in air. A snout is awesome for rummaging around for food, but would it give a flying pig enough oxygen to flap it’s wings? At what point would it stop being a pig and start being something else entirely?

    • Photo: Marcus Gallagher-Jones

      Marcus Gallagher-Jones answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I also don’t think there are flying pigs. At the moment I doubt they will ever evolve without a little help. There is no real selective pressure for pigs to fly. It’s believed flight’s primary evolutionary advantage is the ability to rapidly change location, whether that be escaping being eaten, getting away from competition or changing habitat because you’re current on just doesn’t suit you. Right now they are, pardon the pun, happy as pigs in muck, and have no real reason to move anywhere quickly.

      So many changes would need to take place to a pig physiologically that, if they eventually come to fly, they’d be no good for bacon or sausages anymore.

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