Meet Frankie!
Frankie lives in the Barnyard at Sequoia Park Zoo, where we tell the story of animal domestication. He is an 11-year-old kunekune pig, a breed of domestic pig from New Zealand. Kunekune means fat and round in Maori, a language spoken by indigenous New Zealanders. A distinctive feature of the kunekune pig is their dangling wattles chin tassels, called piri piri. They graze on grasses and are known for their friendly personalities among farmers.
This unique breed of domestic pig almost went extinct in the 1970s when only about 50 purebred kunekune were left! Herds of kunekune have been bred and managed since then, and individuals have now made their way here to Eureka, California.