Minnesota Miniature
| Conservation status | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Hormel[3]: 606 |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Use | laboratory animal |
| Traits | |
| Skin colour | either coloured or unpigmented[3]: 652 |
| |
The Minnesota Miniature is an extinct American breed of miniature pig. It was bred from 1949 at the Hormel Institute of the University of Minnesota, at Saint Paul in Minnesota, and was for this reason also known as the Hormel. It derived cross-breeding of a variety of small feral pigs including some from Santa Catalina Island as well as stock of the Pineywoods Rooter of Louisiana, the Guinea Hog of Alabama and the Ras-n-Lansa of Guam.
History
[edit]The Minnesota Miniature was bred from 1949 at the Hormel Institute of the University of Minnesota, at Saint Paul in Minnesota.[3]: 652 [4]: 261 The initial breeding was of various American feral pigs: some from Santa Catalina Island, as well as stock of the Pineywoods Rooter of Louisiana and the Guinea Hog of Alabama. From 1957 use was also made of stock of the Ras-n-Lansa breed of the island of Guam in the Mariana Islands; it was hoped that this would lead to a reduction in size.[3]: 652 [4]: 261 The final composition of the breed was about 49% Pineywoods Rooter, 22% Ras-n-lansa, 16% Catalina and 13% Guinea Hog.[4]: 261
The breed is extinct,[1]: 127 but contributed to the development of several other breeds of miniature pig, among them the Czech White Miniature of the Czech Republic, the Göttingen Miniature of Germany, and the NIH Miniature and Sinclair Miniature of the United States.[3]: 651 [4]: 261
Characteristics
[edit]The Minnesota Miniature was a small spotted pig, with an average body weight of about 80 kg at 12 months old.[5]: 224
Use
[edit]It was bred as a laboratory animal for biomedical research.[3]: 716
References
[edit]- 1 2 Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
- ↑ Breed Data Sheet: Minnesota Miniature / United States of America (Pig). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
- 1 2 3 4 Valerie Porter, Ian Lauder Mason (2020). Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties (sixth edition). Wallingford; Boston: CABI. ISBN 9781789241532.
- ↑ Valerie Porter, Jake Tebbit (illustrator) (1993). Pigs: A Handbook to the Breeds of the World. Ithaca, New York: Comstock Publishing Associates. ISBN 1873403178.