Mangalica( Farm Animal)

The Mangalica is a Hungarian breed of domestic pig. It was developed in the mid-19th century by crossbreeding Hungarian breeds from Nagyszalonta and Bakony with the European wild boar and the Serbian Šumadija breed. The Mangalica pig grows a thick, curly coat of hair.

Weight: >: at 13–14 months: 180–200 kg; after fattening: 200–300 kg; maximum: over 500 kg;

Origin: Hungary

Scientific name: Sus scrofa domesticus

Rank: Breed

Higher classification: Domestic pig

Other names: Mangalitza; Mangalitsa

The blonde Mangalica variety was developed from older, hardy types of Hungarian pig (Bakonyi and Szalontai) crossed with the European wild boar and a Serbian breed (and later others like Alföldi) in Austro-Hungary (1833).

That year, Prince of Serbia Miloš Obrenović sent 12 pigs of the autochthonous Serbian Šumadinka breed, ten of the pigs were sows while two were boars, to the Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary for the new breed to be created.

Pigs originally grown at the Prince's Topčider farm near Belgrade were used to create the Syrmian black lasa breed, also known as the black mangalica. The development took place in Austro-Hungary (present-day Arad County in Romania) in the early 19th century.

The new, quick-growing, "fat-type" hog did not require any special care, which caused it to become very popular in Hungary. In 1927, the National Society of Fat-Type Hog Breeders (Mangalicatenyésztők Országos Egyesülete) was established, with the objective of improving the breed.

Mangalica was the most prominent swine breed in the region until 1950 (30,000 of them were in Hungary in 1943). Since then, the popularity as well as the population of Mangalica has been decreasing, with the rising availability of food from farther away and refrigeration.

In 1991, there were less than 200 remaining Mangalica in Hungary. Monte Nevado, a Spanish company began the breeding and recovery of Mangalica, and they were awarded with the Middle Cross of Hungary in 2016. Nowadays, the keeping of Mangalica has become a popular hobby. Slightly over 7,000 Mangalica sows in Hungary are producing around 60,000 piglets a year.

There are currently three existing varieties of Mangalica, differing only by color. These differences are too small for them to be considered individual breeds. The three Mangalica varieties are: “blonde”, “swallow-bellied”, and “red”.

The “blonde” Mangalica is blonde, the “swallow-bellied” (originally produced by crossing the Blonde Mangalica with the extinct Black Mangalica) has a blonde lower-portion of its body while the upper-portion of its body is black,

and the “red” (produced by crossing the Blonde Mangalica with the Szalonta breed) is ginger-colored. Other varieties (including “black”, “wolf”, and “baris”) have become extinct as pure-bred forms, though their reconstruction from selective breeding of mixed varieties is being debated in Hungary.