The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) is the rarest species of pig in the world today, and is the only species in the genus Porcula. It is also the smallest species of pig in the world, with its piglets being small enough to fit in one's pocket. Endemic to India, the pygmy hog is a suid native of the alluvial grasslands in the foothills of the Himalayas, at elevations of up to . Populations of pygmy hogs were once widespread in the tall, dense, wet grasslands in a narrow belt of the southern Himalayan foothills from north-western Uttar Pradesh to Assam, through southern Nepal and North Bengal, and possibly extending into contiguous habitats in southern Bhutan. Due to human encroachment and destruction of the pygmy hogs’ natural habitat, the species was thought to have gone extinct in the early 1960’s. However, in 1971, a small pygmy hog population was rediscovered as they were fleeing a fire near the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam. Today, the only known population of pygmy hogs resides in Manas National Park in Assam, India. The population is threatened by livestock grazing, fires and poaching. With an estimated population of less than 250 mature individuals, the pygmy hog is listed as an Endangered species on the IUCN Red List, and conservation efforts such as captive breeding and re-release programs are currently being employed. Taxonomy Porcula salvania was the scientific name proposed by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1847 who described a pygmy hog from the Sikkim Terai. Hodgson argued that the pygmy hog was a genus separate from Sus based upon its unique morphological differences, particularly pertaining to its skull and dental features. Hodgson’s classification of the pygmy hog as a separate genus was challenged with the argument that the pygmy hog’s unique physical characteristics were “superficial” and merely a result of its small body size, therefore deeming these features insufficient to warrant separate distinction from other members of the genus Sus. Its species epithet salvania is after the sal forests where the pygmy hog was found. Although the decision was not unanimous, the pygmy hog was later determined to be a member of the pig species in the genus Sus and was renamed Sus salvanius. A 2007 genetic analysis of the variation in three mitochondrial DNA loci, combined with rigorous statistical testing of other phylogenetic hypotheses, confirmed Hodgson's original classification that the pygmy hog is, indeed, a