A story from my father
who is an archaeologist, specialising in Cental American stuff (I won't be any more specific than that). He used to take digs out there every year few a few months, with him and his students/colleagues setting up little tent villages on site in the jungle.

The loos for the site are literally in a tent, built over a large hole, that gets filled in and moved on every so often, as soon as its full. Obviously, this gets very unsavoury very quickly (especially in Belizian heat), so many prefer the alternative of heading off into the jungle with a spade and some loo roll. The local wild pigs soon developed a taste for human excrement, and would root around the freshly dug earth, snaffling up the recently-buried logs.

Eventually, people stopped taking spades with them for their daily shit; there was no point, as it'd just be dug up staight away again. The pigs grew to recognise the "picking up of the loo roll and heading off with a purposeful air" signs, and would follow the shitter, waiting around with looks of hungry anticipation as (s)he did their business, and then leap onto the freshly-laid turds with the ferocity of Heather Mills at a divorce hearing.

The only catch was trying to remember what these pigs looked like when shooting animals for food. They really didn't want to eat something that had been living off a diet of roots, nuts and raw sewage.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 16:33, 8 replies)

...
And that's why pigs are unclean in the Abrahamic tradition. Nothing to do with salmonella - it's to do with the fact that they're ominvorous and hungry. In a region like the Middle East, that means they'll dig up and eat all kinds of stuff - like excreta or the body of your recently-buried great aunt. Little wonder there's a taboo on contact with them.



Or so I was told.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 16:41, closed)

Enzyme
Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right, I've heard that reason quite a few times.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 16:45, closed)

Wow
B3ta really is a source of interesting bits of information. Will impress (i'm using that in it's loosest sense again) my friends in the pub later with that.
( Bazongaloid, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 17:01, closed)

'Strue
As it's difficult to dig a deep grave when it's rocky arid ground.

Dogs are also not well regarded as they'll enjoy a snack of Great Uncle Bob (deceased) and can also dig well. And enjoy a turdy snack at times as well.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 17:20, closed)

re: pigs being unclean
that's one of the reasons. Another is that if pork is not properly cooked it can do a lot of damage - trichinellosis/trichinosis. Yet another is that pigs are not ideal for a nomadic lifestyle, therefore shun the 'outsider' animal. A bit of biblical snobbery.

And in agreement: I did my ugrad dissertation on animal domestication in France. I remember one book stating factually that 'a pig is omniverous and therefore an ideal way to dispose of a dead body'. (It stated this in French, obviously.)
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 18:33, closed)

so more like
"le pig est une omnivore, c'est un magnifique way de disposer le corp mort"

or possibly not
( Bazongaloid, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 18:38, closed)

^oui. Or
Le cochon est un animal omnivore donc c'est un méthode idéal pour disposer d'un cadavre.
Maybe.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 18:57, closed)

Rather offputting


You know how difficult it is to finish up and flush if you know somebody is outside waiting to go. I think the little piggies might be disappointed in my case
(Sir Tainley Barking Ezekiel 23:20, Fri 28 Mar 2008, 22:20, closed)