Tima’s Point Of View. What Hogs See.

Here is Tima’s little house.

Tin hog house in the corner of a field

Below is what Tima (the kunekune ) sees from the bed in her house. She sees the porch of the farm-house. Point of View is everything. And Tima has a room with a view!

There has been so much rain lately that I crawled in to her bed to check that everything was dry. It was. It is. And very comfy. I might add. I laid down in the straw for a while to see what Tima the kunekune pig sees.

Interior or corrugated iron steel hooped hog house

The Porch. She probably lies here in her warm dry bed and watches for human movement on the porch. Though she probably hears me or even smells me before she sees me.

Hogs and little pigs do not see as well as we humans do.

Whereas humans have trichromatic vision, meaning that three pigment cones blend together to create the colours we see. Pigs have dichromatic vision, or only two pigment cones that create their colours. In a nutshell:

  • Colours are not as nuanced for hogs.
  • Hogs have no night vision, they go to bed early.
  • They see the colour blue best, though struggle with the green and red spectrum.
  • They are likely near sighted.
  • But their panorama is a massive 310 degrees, whereas humans see 180 degrees, as long as both eyes are working properly.

Which is why when a hog gets a fright she runs, immediately. A piglet will go to ground and freeze. Hogs are prey animals and their eyes take too long to focus and assess a surprise threat. They instinctively bolt. (Unless they have piglets – then they will attack, as you and I know only too well).

Anyway, I am willing to bet that Tima knows exactly when the door on the porch opens.

One way or the other.

Duck egg at the outside edge of dick pond. Pond surrounded in large river rocks.

The ducks have laid Tima an egg.

How kind of the duck to lay her egg right at the bottom of the slippery rock wall. However the duck pond is very close to Tima’s house so I just throw the egg straight over the fence to her. Check out the first image of her hog house. See if you can spot the duck egg!

A prime example of the farm feeding the farm. I love sustainable ways.

Have a lovely day.

Cecilia

32 Comments on “Tima’s Point Of View. What Hogs See.

  1. I was wondering if you took a nap in Tima’s house. Probably warm in there?

  2. Hah! Egg spotted and I love how you showed us Tima’s views! You are such a great photographer! Cheers and Happy days to you, Tima and all the other critters!

  3. Such interesting facts about little pigs. I must wear blue, if I ant to be seen by pigs. What colors do cows see?

  4. Dogs have dichromatic vision too (although not the short-sightedness, especially sighthound breeds). I always wondered why people buy dogs red balls and throw them onto green grass and expect the dog to find it easily… Interesting to find out that it’s the same for pigs. I suspect that Tima has a very acute sense of smell. She is a true queen of all she surveys. I follow another farming blog with a breeding pair of kune kunes called Elvira and Zeke, who have just produced a litter of 9 piglets. Elvira reminds me strongly of TIma, same colouring, and the gorgeous squirmy piglets remind me of Tima’s early days at the Farmy. So endearing.

    • I do wish that Tane and Tima had bred. It was the saddest thing the Tane came up short. But not every couple get to have babies. And it is ok too.

      Dogs and pigs have good noses! Lucky!!

  5. Pigs do take off when surprised. When I was about 10, I came around the corner of the barn and surprised two sleeping pigs. They bolted and ran into a woven wire fence at the corner of the lot. One suffered a broken neck. Dad made me watch him butcher it. The guy from the local locker came to get it. He was already closed as it was a Saturday evening when it happened.

    • Oh no. That is a terrible story. And I had not clearly thought about it until now. I whistle or sing or call out as I approach the animals because the pigs do the same. They are always grunting and sharing their location.

      Awful that you had to watch him butcher the pig though. Obviously that incident made an impression.

  6. Lucky Tima having such a warm, cosy, dry home. I’d like to have seen you curled up in there. Interesting facts about pig’s site. Personal egg delivery, lucky Tima again.

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