Thread: Otago University needs Feral Pig DNA Samples

This project was proposed a few years ago, but stalled. The Rare Breeds Society was contacted again last week, by one of the Professors, to say that the research team is now ready to begin the study. They've got the South Island pigs samples covered, but they want me to co-ordinate 15 samples from pigs killed/caught from various areas of bush around the North Island. They also need pictures of each kill/capture to identify the possible breed or traits of the individual pig.

The DNA of each pig will be compared with other feral pig populations in NZ and from there, the DNA profiles of the NZ pig populations will be compared to overseas pigs, to see where each type of pig may have originated. The Canterbury Blue pigs look like they may have distant relatives in an area of China, but more research still has to be done, to get a definitive answer.

So to those who volunteered last time and any other pig hunters who would like to help collecting samples from the ears of wild pigs, for DNA research, please email me at; inger@keymer.name and let me know your contact details, so I can post you a collection container, which has a special preservative in it, to keep the sample from going bad before the scientists get to make a DNA profile of the sample. If I include the prepaid packaging for returning the sample, it won't cost you anything, other than a good reason for another hunting trip.

I'm hoping to get volunteers from all around the North Island, so I can get a good representation of the various genetic groups from the bush in the area you hunt in. From the Rare Breeds Society's point of view, it would be great to get samples from any remnant Captain Cooker, feral Kunekune or European Wild Boar populations that might still be around. If you know of any and are willing to hunt for one, please let me know. I know that a lot of the original pig populations have crossbred with released or escaped domestic breed pigs, which muddies the DNA a bit, but we'll see what we can get.

Let me know if there are any questions I haven't covered.

Many thanks for any help you can give me,
Inger Keymer
Rare Breeds Society of NZ