Auckland Island

The Auckland Island pig is a feral-derived domestic pig from the subantarctic Auckland Islands south of New Zealand. Pigs released in the nineteenth century survived for generations in a cold, wet, windswept environment, producing a hardy, dark, hairy animal with a long snout, strong legs, and enough fat cover to cope with scarce feed. The original island population was important biologically because it was isolated for so long, but it also damaged native vegetation and wildlife habitat.

Today Auckland Island pigs are managed only in captivity or controlled research and conservation settings; they are not animals to release back into natural areas. Descendants were saved before eradication work removed pigs from the islands, and some lines have been maintained under high-biosecurity conditions for genetic conservation and biomedical study. Practical care calls for secure pens or pasture, shelter from persistent rain, careful breeding records, and attention to temperament, since these pigs retain much of the resourcefulness of feral stock.

Colors: Belted, Black, Black and White, Blonde, Brown, Cream, Ginger, Ginger and Black, Red, Red and Black, Sandy, Solid Black, Solid White, Spotted, Swallow Belly, White