Beardsley Zoo welcomes new piglets in Bridgeport

Eight new guinea hog piglets were born at the Bridgeport zoo on June 13. The litter has four males and four females. 

“Welcoming new life is always exciting, and this litter gives our guests an opportunity to connect with an important heritage breed up close,” Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo CEO Jim Wharton said in a news release. “These piglets are already full of personality, and we know they will quickly become favorites among our visitors. Their arrival also highlights the importance of preserving rare domestic breeds for future generations.”

The piglets are currently on display for visitors at the zoo’s New England Farmyard exhibition. The exhibit is designed to look like a New England farm with a covered bridge and barns and is also home to goats and miniature horses.

Guinea hogs are large, square-bodied animals and can weigh between 150-300 pounds, according to a news release by the zoo, but they are currently domesticated to be smaller. They typically have black hair, long tails and pointed ears. The animals have substantial memory and are grazers, maintaining a diet full of shrubs, weeds, bird eggs, snakes, mice, grasshoppers, roots, tubers and sometimes manure, the release states.