section_path: Evolution/Taxonomy
section_name: Taxonomy
paragraph_text: Taxonomy
  
  The pig is most often considered to be a subspecies of the wild boar, which was given the name Sus scrofa by Carl Linnaeus in 1758; following from this, the formal name of the pig is Sus scrofa domesticus. However, in 1777, Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben classified the pig as a separate species from the wild boar. He gave it the name Sus domesticus, still used by some taxonomists. The American Society of Mammalogists considers it a separate species.