The Baudin Pig is a
landrace
A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolatio ...
of
domestic pig
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
, originating on
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. The landrace descended from pigs released on the island in the 1800s. The entirety of the wild stock of the breed was wiped out during the
Kangaroo Island bushfires, and the only remaining examples of the breed are kept at a rare breeds farm on the island.
The breed is named after
Nicolas-Thomas Baudin, one of the possible individuals credited with introducing pigs to Kangaroo Island. Westran Pigs are an inbred form of the breed, crossed with large white, which are used in medical research, particularly for
xenotransplantation
Xenotransplantation (''xenos-'' from the Greek meaning "foreign" or strange), or heterologous transplant, is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenograft ...
References
{{reflist
Pig landraces
Fauna of Kangaroo Island