While we’re still on the hunt for shaggy cetaceans, other amazing curly coated creatures like pigs, rats and even birds shouldn’t be brushed off so easily.
Curly-Feathered Chicken
A Chinese farmer from Henan province walked into his barnyard one morning and saw something that made his hair curl… one of his chickens had beat him to the punch perm! Following its first molt, this regal-looking rooster rocked the kind of feathery hairdo we humans pay big bucks for, and the beauteous bird‘s bouffant didn’t require harsh chemicals, curlers or a hairdryer either.
Curly-Haired Rats
Among rat fanciers (yes, there is such a term), curly-coated rodents bred for show are known as Rex Rats and the curliest of the bunch are Agouti Rexes. One of the most outstanding when it comes to curly-coatedness is Pumpkin May (above), a Blue Berkshire rex rat owned by Flickr member madaise. Should we really be breeding rats to enhance certain notable traits? Has no one seen Ben or Willard?
Curly-Haired Pigs
This isn’t the pebble-grained pigskin you were looking for, Tony Romo, though using a flaxen-haired football might improve your 4th quarter accuracy. The most popular curly-coated pig raised these days is the Mangalitza, a shaggy porker from Hungary whose wooly coat helped its ancestors withstand harsh winter weather.
The poster kid for curly-haired pigs, however, has to be the now-extinct Lincolnshire Curly Coat from Great Britain. Like the Mangalitza, these large and lop-eared swine were wooly as a response to local winter weather conditions. Though the Lincolnshire Curly Coat became less popular after the Second World War and was finally lost in the 1970s, efforts are being made to re-create the breed using hybrid Mangalitza pigs that have some British ancestry.
