A new genetic study reveals that humans started moving pigs across the Pacific as early as 50,000 years ago, reshaping island ecosystems long before modern trade or colonial contact.
The findings, published in Science, show that these early movements introduced pigs to regions far beyond their native ranges, with lasting ecological and cultural impacts.
Researchers analyzed the genomes of over 700 pigs, both ancient and modern, tracing their movement through Southeast Asia and into remote parts of the Pacific.
The team discovered that people transported pigs across natural boundaries, including the Wallace Line, a biogeographic divide that usually limits the spread of animals between Asia and Australasia.
Tracing pig migration through ancient DNA
The study found that humans living in Sulawesi, known for producing some of the world’s earliest cave art, may have carried warty pigs to nearby islands such as Timor tens of thousands of years ago. These movements likely helped establish hunting populations.
Pig dispersal sharply accelerated about 4,000 years ago when early agricultural communities began transporting domesticated pigs from Taiwan through the Philippines, into Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and onward to Vanuatu and Polynesia.
Map showing the dispersal of pigs into Wallacea, including deliberate introductions by people in Wallacea and the Pacific. pic.twitter.com/gngmwRjRf7
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) January 5, 2026
Lead researcher David Stanton of Cardiff University and Queen Mary University of London explained that tracking how pigs moved across such vast distances helped the team understand the broader patterns of human migration in the region.
He said these journeys created pig populations with mixed ancestry, shaped by both natural evolution and human activity.
Humans moving pigs across the Pacific shaped ecosystems
Senior author Laurent Frantz of Queen Mary University of London and Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich emphasized that ancient pig DNA helps uncover layers of human behavior in one of the world’s most biodiverse areas. He raised a key conservation question: if people introduced a species thousands of years ago, should it now be considered native?
The study also revealed that some pigs introduced by early settlers later escaped into the wild. On the Komodo Islands, these pigs bred with earlier populations brought from Sulawesi, forming hybrids that now serve as a food source for the endangered Komodo dragon.
Professor Greger Larson from the University of Oxford said wild boar naturally spread across large parts of Eurasia, but in the Pacific, pigs depended on humans to reach new territories. Genetic sequencing allowed the team to match these pig movements with specific human populations and time periods.
The research involved over 50 scientists from institutions including Cardiff University, the University of Oxford, Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency, the National Museum of the Philippines and the Vanuatu Cultural Center.
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