Iberian pig genome remains unchanged after five centuries

ScienceDaily ^ | September 17, 2014 | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

[SunkenCiv]

A team of Spanish researchers have obtained the first partial genome sequence of an ancient pig. Extracted from a sixteenth century pig found at the site of the Montsoriu Castle in Girona, the data obtained indicates that this ancient pig is closely related to today's Iberian pig. Researchers also discard the hypothesis that Asian pigs were crossed with modern Iberian pigs.

The study, published in Heredity, sheds new light on evolutionary aspects of pig species, and particularly on that of the Iberian breed, considered to be representative of original European Mediterranean populations...

The sample dates approximately from the years 1520 to 1550 and is previous to the introduction of Asian pigs in Europe, which were later crossed with local European breeds which are the origin of today's international pig species. The sample pig is contemporary to the beginning of America's colonisation...

The study indicates that the pig was a domestic pig, given that the sequence presents a series of markers typical of domestic pigs and which are very rare or absent in wild boars (the precursor animals to the domestic pig); moreover, this coincides with the historical registers of the castle, which clearly indicates that pig breeding was an important castle activity. Nevertheless, there is also evidence of occasional crossbreeding between wild boars and ancient pigs, as has happened between wild boars and Iberian pigs.

[chajin]

I wonder if the attitude towards Iberian pigs in Muslim-ruled Spain was similar to the attitude towards wild boar in Edo-era Japan. In Japan, Buddhist priests were supposed to not eat meat, but they could eat fish/seafood, so they would catch wild boar and call it yamakujira, or "mountain whale," thereby breaking Lincoln's rule that calling a dog's tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. It wouldn't surprise me if Iberian pigs were cooked and eaten as "Andalusian goat" or some such absurd made-up name.

[Verginius Rufus]

Back when the Iranians seized the US embassy, Jimmy Carter referred to the restoration of the shah in 1953 as "ancient history."

By that reasoning, the Carter administration is ancient history now.

[Verginius Rufus]

Back about 200 years ago, Charles Lamb wrote a book explaining how the Chinese discovered how to roast pork.

Of course that was China and these pigs are Spanish, but pigs are pigs.

[Verginius Rufus]

The South American capybara, the largest rodent in the world, spends much of its time in the water. Back when the Catholic Church forbade eating meat on Fridays (but allowed eating fish), the locals persuaded themselves that capybara could be considered fish because they spent so much time in the water.