Speaking of Pokémon based on pigs, then the second generation of small mountain pigs and the long-haired pigs after evolution may be the first thought of many small partners, but in fact, in terms of the comprehensive prototype of small mountain pigs and long-haired pigs, the parts of their bodies that resemble the real "pigs" are actually limited, otherwise the long-haired pigs that finally evolved into them will not be called "mammoths" by the player, so does this mean that the pre-evolutionary mountain pigs and long-haired pigs are more like elephants than pigs? And why do the Pokémon of this family have the attribute of ice, let's take a peek at the secrets of their bodies.
PS: This article is purely personal opinion, if there are any errors, please correct.
The little mountain pig that most resembles a pig:
If you really want to use the "pig" in reality as a prototype reference, then the most similar to the real pig is the first form of the small mountain pig, but the prototype of the small mountain pig is not from the real domestic pig, the domestic pig is now mostly white body hair after domestication by humans, and the hair is relatively short, the small mountain pig has a relatively long and dense body hair, so the small mountain pig family is more like a wild boar that has not been domesticated by humans in reality, and the wild boar is an animal under the genus of the mammalian even-hoofed pig family, which is a medium-sized mammal. The overall coat color is dark brown or black, and the top layer consists of stiffer bristles, and a layer of soft fine hairs under the bottom layer.
The small mountain pig should be the cub of the wild boar in reality, so the shape portrayal is relatively simple, it looks like the small body size of the head and the body connected, but it has a very iconic "pig nose", the small mountain pig is a combination of ice and ground system, as a Pokémon that relies on land life, there is a ground system that can be understood, and the reason why there is an ice system, it may be the result of their long-term life on the snowy mountain evolution, the small mountain pig is particularly good at relying on the sense of smell to find hot springs, and the pig in reality is actually particularly sensitive to smell, Even better than dogs, the anime also depicts the little mountain pig looking for hot springs many times (the picture above is a real-life wild boar).
Long-haired pigs that do not resemble pigs:
After the evolution of the small mountain pig, it has become a larger, and the body hair is more dense long-haired pigs, although with the word "pig", and still has an iconic pig nose, but it is difficult for us to see other pig-like characteristics from the long-haired pig, the long-haired pig is a Pokémon combined with a variety of real animals as a prototype, in addition to the wild boar mentioned above, the long-haired pig's body shape is also similar to the consumption of cattle, the cattle are herbivorous ruminants, animals adapted to the cold areas, their hair is thick and thick, can be used for clothes or tents, Skin is a good material for tanning, and the "long hair" characteristics of long-haired pigs are closer to those of cattle.
In addition, the fangs of long-haired pigs and the evolved ivory pigs are more likely to be associated with elephants, although the real wild boar also has fangs, but the teeth of long-haired pigs and evolved ivory pigs are actually more like ivory, and the exposed teeth of long-haired pigs may come from the mastodon, which is an extinct elephant, belonging to the mastodon family, and the name of the tooth elephant is due to the fact that the teeth of this type of elephant have pairs of nipple-like protrusions; In addition, according to the evolution of the ivory pig, the long-haired pig may also be partly based on the mammoth, but about the mammoth, we will wait until later when we talk about the ivory pig (the picture above is the fossil of the real-life mammoth).
From this point of view, it is quite imprecise to simply say that the small mountain pig and the long-haired pig are "pigs", and perhaps the Pokémon that really uses "pigs" as the main prototype must be the five generations of the Fire Imperial Three Warm Pig Family.