Pacific Pigs

Pigs are an important part of Ni-Vanuatu culture. Pigs are used to pay bride prices, to settle disputes and to determine status within a community. Pigs with double circled tusks are particularly valuable and a tusk features on the Vanuatu flag.



The Mele villagers raise pigs to sell to city-dwellers who live too far away from their homes to find their own pigs for family celebrations. They also hunt for wild pigs in the hills in the centre of Efate so nearly every young man in the village has his own pig dog.