Do Pigs Sweat? Find Out How A Pig-Lets Out Toxins

All the animals in the w0rld need to keep cool. This is facilitated by sweating in many animals.

A balanced body temperature is always required by warm-blooded animals, including pigs or swine. Sweating is an important way of keeping away heat because, as we sweat, we release energy that is taken from our body heat.

Many people consider pigs to be filthy and stupid animals. Sometimes we might think that we can see them sweating.

This is natural as, like all animals in the world, pigs need to keep their body heat in check.

However, 'sweat like a pig' is not an accurate phrase, as pigs do not sweat. Pigs do have sweat glands in their body, similar to humans, but these sweat glands are of no use in a pig's body.

Overheating can cause a lot of problems in anyone, just as it can cause a pig's body to shut down or even have a fatal seizure. We humans just sweat out heat through our sweat glands, but pigs do not have this luxury and need another way to reduce the heat of their bodies.

When we sweat through our sweat glands, the escaping moisture evaporates from our skin.

The energy that is built up in the body is then released, and this causes our blood vessels to cool. The body's core temperature is cooled by the cooling effect of the evaporation of moisture, and this is how we humans and many other animals in the world use sweat glands in our bodies.

There are two types of sweat glands, known as eccrine sweat glands and apocrine sweat glands. The eccrine sweat gland appears all over the body of a human and is responsible for the cooling of the body.

Water with electrolytes is released from this type of sweat gland, which gives sweat the salty taste we know. The other kind of sweat gland, called the apocrine sweat gland, is also present in the human body in certain places, like the armpits.

These sweat glands secrete an oily substance containing proteins, lipids, and other substances. Although these sweat glands are capable of perspiration, sweating does not happen for most mammals of the world.

Pigs do possess eccrine sweat glands but only in a few areas. However, these are not functional sweat glands and do not release heat in the form of moisture as we do.

Pigs have apocrine sweat glands, which release a viscous secretion that people often think gives a bad smell to the bodies of pigs. The bad smell of pigs is actually bacteria mixing with this secretion.

Although it causes a bad smell, the liquid is actually good for the health of pigs as the secretion keeps the skin in good condition. It even helps some animals in evading threats like dogs.

Pigs do not sweat and, when they need to release heat, although not very good at it, they use mud. Pigs need different methods to release heat from their bodies. One of their primary methods is wallowing.

When pigs feel too warm, they will lie down in mud to cool down. The mud just below the ground's surface is cooler and pigs use this to cool their bodies down.

Also, as pigs won't sweat, they need to go into water to cool off. If the water is cool enough, it will help pigs release the heat as desired. You must have seen pigs going into water or covering themselves with mud on a farm.

If you enjoy this article, why not also read about whether pigs eat meat and if pigs make good pets here on Kidadl?

Why do pigs not sweat?

As we have discussed, pigs do have eccrine sweat glands in their bodies, but in a limited capacity. As a result, they cannot sweat out the water and heat in their bodies as other animal species can.

Humans have an easier way to do this, as the sweat glands in humans and some other animal species can secrete sweat (mostly water with some sodium chloride, salts, amino acids, and other chemicals) whenever needed to take excess heat out. Pigs and piglets do not have this luxury and need to do this release of heat externally.

This is the reason for pigs not sweating, and is why you will often see the animal lying in a pool of mud on the farm.

You may sometimes think that a pig is unhygienic as it will lie in its own urine, but the purpose is the same. This is done to release heat from its body, although not through the skin and sweating.

Pigs and piglets like to dip in the water or mud to keep their temperature down.

The water present in the mud evaporates from their skin and takes the heat away from pigs, similar to how sweating works in us. This behavior is also seen in the hippopotamus.

How do pigs get rid of toxins?

Many places in the world avoid pork meats and other food items provided by a pig. Some people think that the toxins that get released from our body through sweating get absorbed in the body of the pig as it cannot sweat.

This is a common notion all over the world for many people who thinks pork meat is unhealthy. People think that toxins get trapped in the meat and bloodstream of the pig, along with a plethora of bacteria.

Many people avoid pork as they think pork is dangerous to their lives. But people do not know that most animals we eat do not possess sweat glands.

The chicken does not possess sweat glands, and neither does the cow. Perspiration is not the only way to remove toxins from the body.

In reality, the kidneys and liver remove far more toxins than sweat glands. A pig also has both these organs, the kidneys and the liver, that serve to remove toxins formed in the body. The liver even cleans and detoxifies the blood. A kidney helps to take out toxins by cleansing urine.

Do pigs sweat on the inside?

Getting rid of toxins and parasites is important, and people believe that, as a pig cannot sweat, the toxins and parasites remain inside its body, making its meat unhealthy.

Think about it, we humans sweat a lot and are still unable to sweat out parasites from our bodies. Parasites are big enough that they do not fit through a sweat gland and need to be removed by other methods.

Pigs can clean themselves internally through other methods except for sweating, and that is OK as they release heat through breathing and with the help of skin. Sweating is not necessary to remove toxins, and pigs do not sweat, either externally or internally.

Why do we say 'sweat like a pig'?

The term sweat like a pig is not that true as pigs do not actually sweat, and the phrase is used for people that sweat a lot.

The phrase is derived from the iron smelting process, where a hot iron that is poured on sand cools and becomes solid, resembling piglets or a sow. This led to people calling this pig iron.

When pig iron cools, the air surrounding the hot metal reaches a dew point, and moisture is seen on the surface of the iron. It indicates that the iron (shaped like a pig) can now be handled.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 'Do pigs sweat? Find out how pig-lets out toxins', then why not take a look at 'Do guinea pigs smell?' or 'Do guinea pigs sleep with their eyes open?'