The Guinea hog, officially named American Guinea Hog, also called the piney woods Guinea, Guinea forest hog, acorn eater, and yard pig is a breed of domestic pig originating in the United States. Despite its name, the breed is not from the country of Guinea, though the foundation stock was thought to be derived from West Africa. Newer DNA studies point to European origin. It’s believed the American Guinea Hog is related to the Improved Essex, a now-extinct breed. The Guinea hog is a rare breed with a black coat, sturdy body, curly tail and upright ears.
There are two types of Guinea hog in North America, small-boned and large-boned Guinea hogs, the latter having longer legs. There is also a type of Guinea hog in South America.
The name derives from the belief that the origins of the Guinea hog were from African Guinea, but it’s now thought that Guinea just implied small, like Guinea Cattle. Guinea Hogs and Guinea Cattle are both smaller breeds of domestic livestock. The true African Guinea hogs are a large, red breed with upright ears, bristly hair and long tails, suggesting the genetic influence of the Nigerian black or Ashanti pig. They were brought to America on slave ships. Around 1804, Thomas Jefferson acquired some of these pigs, which had arrived from Africa via the Canary Isles. The original strain, although black, also had a hint of red and were consequently called “red Guineas”; that strain, well known at the beginning of the 19th century, is extinct.
Later they were crossed with other breeds, including Appalachian English pigs, Essex pigs, and West African dwarfs. This new breed, the American Guinea hog retained its black colour but lost the red tint and is sometimes called a black Guinea. These pigs were popular with subsistence farmers, not only through their ability to forage for themselves but also because their habit of eating snakes made the farmyard safe for children and livestock.
The breed fell out of favour after around 1880, and for a while was in danger of being entirely lost. Red Guinea no longer exists and its exact relationship with the American Guinea and what proportions of other breeds are in its background are not known for certain. However, that there is a relationship is shown by the occasional birth of a reddish pig to the normally bluish-black American Guinea parents. It is suspected that there were several distinct American Guineas in the past. In 2005 the American Guinea Hog Association was formed which works to ensure its continued existence. The Guinea hog is also included in Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste, a catalogue of heritage foods in danger of extinction.
The Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo for several years was home to several guinea hogs.