Nature features

A rare breed of pig which looks like a sheep has arrived in Lincolnshire.

The two curly coated pigs are a rare breed from Hungary and have been delivered to the Butterfly and Wildlife Park in Long Sutton. 

The pigs, which are called Delia and Ainsley are just four months old.

Michael Crosse from the park says they're similar to the Lincolnshire Curly Coated breed which was made in extinct in the 1970s.

Delia

Links to Lincolnshire

Delia and Ainsley are Hungarian Mangalitza pigs which look similar to Lincolnshire Curly Coats, but are not the same.

Some of our curly coat pigs were sent out to Hungary to improve the local breed, but the amount of DNA in them will be small.

The Pigs

The 'Lincolnshire Curly Coat', sadly became extinct in 1972 just one year before the formation of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, when the final pair were sent for slaughter.

With the help of DEFRA, Pig Paradise and a specialist veterinarian the breed was traced using DNA to descendants of the original Lincolnshire pigs, still living in Hungary, where they had been exported in the 1900's.

Rocky the pig has a very different coat

Their New Home

Ann Colwell at the Butterfly and Wildlife Park in Long Sutton has kept us up to date with how the piglets are settling in.

'Brought by trailer, the piglets were released and have soon settled into their spacious paddock. Their cousins here at the park last year were viewed with affection by our visitors. This year we believe that Ainsley and Delia will be as popular as them, or more so.

Ainsley with the red coloured fur loves the limelight and is very curious and engages with his visitors on a nose to nose level. Come to see them, they are not to be missed.'