• Question: Will pigs ever fly?

    Asked by tombo to Meeks, Pete, Stephen, Steve, Tom on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Tom Hartley

      Tom Hartley answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      This is expected to happen when hell freezes over. 🙂

      If pigs did evolve flight they’d have to be so different from the way they are now, we wouldn’t call them pigs anymore. They’d have to be much smaller, because I don’t think mamallian muscle could get them off the ground as they are now. The biggest flying mammal is the fruit bat (I think) but most flying mammals are “regular” bats (microbats). I always thought they were related to mice, but looking at wikipedia, it seems they evolved a long time ago, and are not that closely related to other creatures around today (they are a distinct “order”). Nevertheless, the existence of bats means your question isn’t as daft as it might sound at first.

      So my final answer (guess) is: Pigs could evolve flight in the distant future, they would be much smaller, perhaps something like bats or flying foxes (aka fruit bats).

      Is that batty enough for you 😉

    • Photo: Stephen Curry

      Stephen Curry answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Yes – on the same day that I am awarded a Nobel prize!

      Seriously though, seems very unlikely to me: they are too heavy and under-powered to fly even it they were to sprout wings (in which cases, the question arises: would they still be pigs).

      Plus, it’s not really a very desirable direction for evolution to go in. Bird poop is already bad enough…

    • Photo: Marieke Navin

      Marieke Navin answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Pigs will fly when my baby goes to bed quietly and when she is supposed to!

    • Photo: Pete Edwards

      Pete Edwards answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Well mice have already developed wings to become bats 🙂
      But they wouldn’t be called pigs if they developed wings I guess…….

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