Domesticating the pig turns out to be more complicated than we thought. We used to think they were domesticated by isolating small populations and selectively breeding for certain traits, however this does not appear to be the case for pigs.
By analyzing the genomes of over 600 domestic pigs and wild boars from Europe and Asia, researchers found that domestic pigs continued to breed with wild populations.
The researchers suggest future studies on animal domestication should not assume that populations were entirely isolated.
Original research paper published in Nature Genetics on August 31, 2015.
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