Vietnamese Pot-bellied

This is a small black pig.

It has short legs and a big belly. Its skin has many wrinkles. These pigs live in muddy lands. They eat rice plants and straw.

In Vietnam, people paint them. These paintings show wealth and joy. This pig is now hard to find. It is a special kind of pig.

The Vietnamese Pot-bellied is a small pig from Vietnam.

It is all black. It has short legs and a low belly. This pig has many wrinkles on its skin. It also has a small head and a snout that points up.

These pigs are strong. They do not get sick easily. They like to live in muddy places. They eat rice straw and water plants.

There are two main types of this pig. The first is the Lợn mo. This pig is very short with small ears. The second is the Lợn pha. This pig is taller with longer legs.

In the past, millions of these pigs lived in northern Vietnam. Now, they are endangered. This means they are at risk of disappearing. In 1991, only 1,000 pigs were left. By 2010, only 120 were left. Some of these pigs went to zoos in other countries. In the 1980s, some people in the United States kept them as pets. In Vietnam, people use old paintings to show these pigs. The paintings show they mean wealth and joy.

The Vietnamese Pot-bellied is a special kind of pig.

People call it the Lợn i pig. It is a traditional breed from Vietnam. This pig is very small and all black. It has a low belly that hangs down. This shape is how it got its name.

In old Đông Hồ paintings, these pigs mean happiness. They also stand for wealth and being full. These paintings come from the Bắc Ninh province.

This pig has a very interesting way of living. It is a robust animal. This means it is strong and healthy. It can resist many diseases and parasites. The pig likes to live in muddy or marshy places. It has plantigrade feet to help it walk. This means its weight sits on all four toes. It finds food by foraging. It eats rice straw and water plants.

Long ago, these pigs were very common. They likely started in Nam Định province. They lived in many places like Hà Nam and Ninh Bình. They were also in Thái Bình and Thanh Hóa. Before the 1970s, there were millions of them. Later, a different pig called Móng Cái became more popular. The National Institute of Animal Husbandry tried to help. They gave money to farmers to keep the breed pure.

It has been hard to keep the breed growing. In 1991, there were only 1,000 pigs left. By 2010, the number dropped to only 120. Because of this, the pig is endangered. The Food and Agriculture Organization listed it as endangered in 2007. There are two main types of this pig. The Lợn mo is very short with small ears. The Lợn pha is taller with longer legs.

These pigs traveled far from their home. Some went to zoos in Canada and Sweden. In the 1980s, they arrived in the United States. People began to keep them as pets. This was a very short fad. Some of these pigs grew quite large. In 2013, Spain called them an invasive species.

An invasive species is a living thing that moves into a new place. We can still learn a lot about these unique pigs.

The Vietnamese Pot-bellied is a unique and traditional breed of small domestic pig.

Known in Vietnam as the Lợn i, this animal is an endangered breed. It is easily recognized by its uniformly black skin and heavily wrinkled appearance. The pig is named for its low-hanging belly that sags toward the ground.

Beyond its physical look, the breed holds deep cultural meaning. In the traditional Đông Hồ paintings of Bắc Ninh province, these pigs symbolize happiness, wealth, and satiety. This makes the breed a significant part of Vietnamese heritage.

Physically, the Lợn i is a small and robust animal. It typically weighs about 25 kilograms and stands roughly 45 centimeters tall. The pig has a small head with an up-turned snout and heavy, sagging jowls. Its ears and eyes are also quite small. One of its most striking features is a pronounced sway back.

Because of its shape, the large sagging belly of a pregnant sow may actually drag on the ground. Despite its small size, the breed is very hardy. It shows good resistance to many diseases and various parasites.

This breed is perfectly adapted to its native environment. The Lợn i is often raised extensively, meaning it can roam and find its own food. It forages well on water plants and rice straw.

The pig is especially suited to marshy and muddy terrain. It uses plantigrade feet to navigate these wet areas. This means the animal bears its weight on all four toes of each foot. This physical trait helps it move effectively through the mud of its natural habitat.

Researchers recognize two principal types within this specific breed. The first type is the Lợn mo, which is the typical small, short-legged version. The Lợn mo has a short snout and small ears that point upward. The second type is the Lợn pha. The Lợn pha is a taller version of the pig. It possesses longer legs, a longer snout, and larger ears that are held horizontally.

These distinctions help categorize the different physical variations of the Lợn i.

The history of the Lợn i shows a dramatic change in population. It is thought to have originated in the Nam Định province within the Red River Delta. It was once the dominant local breed across many provinces, including Hà Nam, Ninh Bình, and Thái Bình. It also lived in Thanh Hóa to the south. Until the 1970s, the breed was likely the most numerous in northern Vietnam, with millions of pigs. However, a more productive breed called Móng Cái began to replace it after that time.

Conservation efforts have faced many difficult challenges. The National Institute of Animal Husbandry of Vietnam started a program to help farmers. They provided subsidies to those who reared purebred stock. Unfortunately, this led to increased inbreeding among the animals. The population numbers dropped sharply over the decades. In 1991, the total population was estimated at only 1,000 pigs. By 2010, that number had fallen to just 120.

In 2003, the breed was listed as critical, and the Food and Agriculture Organization listed it as endangered in 2007.

The Lợn i has also traveled far beyond the borders of Vietnam. In the 1960s, small numbers were exported to Sweden and Canada for zoos or laboratory experiments. Within ten years, they reached animal parks across Europe. By the mid-1980s, the pigs entered the United States via Canada. This led to a short-lived fad where the "pot-bellied pig" was marketed as a pet.

Not all of these were purebred, and some grew to a considerable size. In 2013, the pig was even declared an invasive species in Spain.