Why/how are pigs used to find truffles? Do they have a natural affinity for them?
In: 700
Mushrooms are the fruit of fungus…special bodies adapted for dispersing spores to start the next generation.
Most mushrooms disperse partly or largely using wind. But truffles are located underground. So instead of wind, they are adapted to disperse using animals. To attract animals (mostly mammals, but also birds and insects) they produce a strong odor that attracts animals to eat them.
The actual main target of this odor seems to be a variety of small rodents, but wild boars (and also pigs) are also happy to sniff out truffles and eat them.
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