Pig

Pigs are passive mobs that are the source of porkchops, a renewable source of food; they are also a mode of transportation, provided the right materials are on-hand. They are 0.875 blocks tall, 0.650 blocks wide and 1.3 blocks long.

Appearance
BRING ON THE BACON! A pig has pink skin, ears, and a big fat nose. Their eyes consist of one black and one white pixel which creates a wall-eyed effect. They have a short, stubbed tail and their snouts protrude from their face.

Usage
Each pig will drop 1 - 3 raw porkchops upon death (on pocket edition it is possible for it to drop 0). Pigs that die while on fire will drop 1 - 3 cooked porkchops instead. Pigs can also be used as a method of controlled transportation by placing a saddle on a pig and using a carrot on a stick or carrot to control the pig while on it.

Behavior
Pigs typically roam the Overworld in groups of 3 - 4, but much larger groups can sometimes be found if multiple groups come together. When they encounter obstacles, pigs will often answer them by hopping up and down, apparently attempting to jump over them regardless of whether this is actually possible. They make no attempt to stay out of water, bobbing up and down to stay afloat. Pigs' pathfinding is similar to other passive mobs; they avoid harmful falls and attempt to go around obstructions. When led with carrots, pigs seem to "forget" their pathfinding skills: they will often become stuck on the opposite side of a block rather than walking around it, and will blindly walk off of ledges or into fire.

Pigs tend to move more often, but in smaller strides, towards the North-East, without any other variables coming into play. Pigs can be pushed into minecarts to be transported across long distances.

When struck by lightning, pigs turn into zombie pigmen without a sword. This is a very rare event as there are not many thunderstorms and pigs are a small target for lightning to strike. Baby pigs that get hit by lightning also turn into zombie pigmen. Also when a pig turns into a pigman it will not attack you unless you attack it (like normal). Ridden pigs also turn into zombie pigmen upon being struck by lightning. The player will receive 2 and a half hearts damage and be knocked off the mob.

When spawning pigs in creative mode, you can spawn baby pigs by right clicking on a pig with a pig Spawn Egg.

Breeding
Pigs can be bred using carrots. It takes about 5 minutes before the parents can be bred once more, which applies to all farm animals. It takes at least one full Minecraft 'day' (20 minutes or more) for piglets to grow up to be bacon. The appearance of a piglet is roughly similar to that of an adult pig, having the same sized heads, but noticeably smaller bodies. Piglets mostly stay around their parents until they mature, although the parents cannot protect the piglet(s) from harm. Pigs can also be bred with potatoes and beetroots, but only in Pocket Edition.

Piglets will not use water elevators, but also will not drown in a half slab of water, despite being slightly taller than half a slab in height.

Riding pigs
Saddled pigs are controllable with a carrot on a stick. They start slow but end up going up to 5 blocks per second (5m/sec). Pigs jump when moving, and can climb stairs, slabs, and ladders if moving into/onto them, but cannot go through open doorways. Pigs also do not respond to carrots after entering a body of water. Pigs "eat" the carrot in a span of time which is shown by a durability bar on the carrot on a stick. Right clicking the carrot on a stick will cause them to have a burst of speed but take the durability off it by one quarter of the health. It is not necessary to hold the carrot on a stick while the pig is having the burst of speed, allowing for e.g. a mounted combat against other mobs or players. Damage taken while riding is dealt entirely to the player, unless the rider accidentally hits the pig mortally or the pig takes fall damage (all fall damage goes to the pig). However, it does not cause any knockback nor any decrease of movement speed.

History
Creepers were originally a failed attempt to make a quadrupedal model for pigs, which Notch found amusing enough to make into a unique mob.

Trivia

 * Their BACON is so freaking awesome it will restore 1 hunger bar raw, and 5 cooked. I think....
 * By default, any spawner placed by the player will be a pig spawner.
 * Pigs have a separate "armor" file (for use with the saddle).
 * Saddled pigs in minecarts behave strangely:
 * If the player rides the pig, the speed of the minecart will be boosted.
 * The minecart, ridden or not, will not come to a stop unless it hits a block. Other entities and unpowered gold rails will only slow it to a minimum speed.
 * One of the splashes which shows up on the title screen reads "Ride the pig!".
 * It is possible to control a saddled pig by throwing snowballs or eggs at them, they will run the opposite direction the snowball/egg hit them. However, this method is very hard because the pig is likely to run around in circles.
 * If a saddled pig with a player on it goes through a 1x1x1 hole, the player will start suffocating.
 * A pig at second to full speed (5 blocks a second) is barely enough to avoid the skulls of the Wither.
 * With carrots being the new breeding item, pigs are even less efficient than cows as livestock. Cooked Porkchop and Steak have equal hunger values, but cows drop leather and you now need carrots to breed pigs, thus making them less efficient.
 * It is possible to turn your head around when riding a pig.
 * The house-music artist deadmau5 released a song titled "Get In The Cart, Pig", in a direct reference to Minecraft.
 * The pigs seem to be very strong, as they are able to withstand a player with a full set of gold armor and carrying stacks of gold.