Rumblestruts and purrs

tatals

tatals

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I've never seen anyone talking about this, I think, and I'd like to know if you've had this experience. Shoyu has started rumblestrutting AT ME. It's super funny, I can't stop laughing. It always happens when I touch his cheeks, and he's probably telling me he doesn't like it, but I never knew they could go that far, haha. He will vibrate and wiggle his bum vigorously.

Also, I have a lot of trouble interpreting the purrs. I tend to see a purr as something negative, even though I always see everyone saying that it really depends on context and body language. I can't avoid it, if they start purring I assume I'm doing something wrong. So today I was scratching Oreo's back and he started purring. I was immediately like, 'oh-oh!', but then he stretched his legs behind and lay down, all chicken-legged. Does this sound like he was actually enjoying it? Poor Oreo is super grumpy, so I never know if he actually wants to kill me, lol.
 
My Christian rumbles all the time. At me at the girlies Velvet, Meg and Betsy and at Dennis too. He is showing everyone and everypig what a handsome and virile chap he is and he's not to be messed with. I have only heard cutey pie Dennis rumble a few times as he is the underboar and I am pretty sure that now he is the bottom of the hierarchy which used to be Meg.
 
sport_billy said:
:)):)) That is funny @Wiebke ever been rumbled at?
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Oh, yes! Plenty!

Rumble-strutting is quite a nuanced activity.

Boars measure up against each other that way (I call that a 'boar haka'), especially whenever they meet - all my various boars in the piggy room have worked out a hierarchy across the room between them and any new boar will be ranked by their rumble.

By the same token, they show off to sows what strapping lads they are (and they have certainly done that to me, too!); as it is often leading to a little popcorn I think it is just sometimes a way of expressing their contentedness with the world as it is as well!
New 'husboars' (neutered boars living with sows) seem to have a phase when they kind of lose most of their vocabulary since everything except for the food wheek seems to come out as a rumble - certainly a sign of their happiness!
I divide my boars into 'rumble-singers' and into 'mountaineers', depending whether their preferred method of interaction when meeting other piggies is rumble-strutting at them or mounting them.

Then there is the better known dominance rumbling, which sows can also do during bonding or if their standing in the hierarchy is in question. Funnily enough the two sows doing this most often were spayed Hafren and Iola, who were pretty evenly matched, so that the top spot was moving backward and forward a few times between them. They both also dominance mounted each other. This use of rumbling is very targeted and shared by both genders. Depending on the context, a piggy can dominance rumble at you, most often a teenager.

It was so cute watching little Llelo copying Dylan's rumbles and the exact hip swing when rumble-strutting at the sows through the bars during roaming time. If he got it abolutely right, he would then popcorn off being ever so pleased with his achievement! :D

I would strongly recommend that you see rumblestrutting as a rather positive and happy expression of being a boar. ;)
 
Frodo rumblestruts at me all the time! Usually when I’ve got my hand in the cage giving it a freshen up but then he starts popcorning around and head butting my hand to give him a scratch behind the ears. He’s a strange little guy haha
 
tatals said:
Poor Oreo is super grumpy, so I never know if he actually wants to kill me, lol.
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Frodo rumblestruts at me all the time! Usually when I’ve got my hand in the cage giving it a freshen up but then he starts popcorning around and head butting my hand to give him a scratch behind the ears. He’s a strange little guy haha.
He’s also the grumpy little crank of the pair and I’m never quite sure if he’s happy or eyeing me up to bite me 🙈
 
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