The Mystery of Hogzilla Solved
National Geographic Reveals the Truth Behind the Legendary Beast
From Georgia
From GMA
March 21, 2005
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The mystery of the beast known as "Hogzilla" was born in the swamps
and woods of Georgia just last summer.
Chris Griffin, a hunting guide, was out in the woods one day when
he says he couldn't believe his eyes -- an animal resembling a hog
that was 12 feet long and weighed over 1,000 pounds.
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"All sorts of thoughts were running through my head, and I was
thinking, 'I'm gonna take a shot at this animal,'" Griffin
said.
With the help of a backhoe, he hoisted the enormous beast up for
the perfect trophy shot of the animal soon dubbed "Hogzilla."
An Internet Legend Is Born
Griffin buried the beast shortly after the photo was taken, but
when the picture hit the Internet, a legend was born.
People around the world questioned whether Hogzilla was real or a
trick of computer photography. Others debated whether Hogzilla was
an enormous wild boar or a farm-raised hoax.
That's when National Geographic stepped in.
"We decided to do a real "CSI"-style investigation for Explorer,"
said Nancy Donnelly, a National Geographic producer. "We brought in
a pig geneticist, a wildlife ecologist and a pig behavior
specialist."
Is Hogzilla Real?
Now, after extensive research, there is a verdict.
National Geographic says Hogzilla is very real, though not as big
as they thought. But the 800-pound male had something strange in
his DNA.
"One of the most amazing things that we found out about Hogzilla
was he had wild boar in his ancestry and we were only able to
figure this out through our DNA testing," said Donnelly.
But more questions remain -- where did this giant hybrid come
from?
And to residents of Alapaha, Ga., there is one thing perhaps more
important: Could the son or daughter of Hogzilla still be out
there?
