A miniature pig for a pet?

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Originally intended as lab animals, miniature pet pigs that actually stay mini have been created by the Chinese genomics institute BGI, Smithsonian.com reports.

Researchers developed the pigs by genetically editing a cloned Bama pig (a naturally small breed of pig) so that its growth hormone receptors were disabled. The clone was then bred with an unaltered Bama sow, with the majority of offspring remaining small. According to Scientific American, these mini pigs grow to around 15 kilograms, far smaller than the so-called "teacup pigs" which often balloon up to 50 kilograms.

Pigs, being more similar to humans than rats or mice, are often used in medical testing. However, according to Scientific American, large animals like regular-sized pigs are expensive to keep and use in testing. Miniaturizing pigs helps solve many of those issues.

But some people disagree with using these animals as pets. Daniel Voytas, a geneticist at the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul, supports "the safe and ethical use" of gene-editing techniques, but he worries that "pet mini-pigs distract and add confusion to efforts to achieve this goal," Scientific American reports.

Regardless of the ethics, these pigs aren't cheap.

According to Smithsonian.com, BGI has priced the pigs at US$16,000 each. BP