Ossabaw Island Pigs are descended from stock left on Ossabaw Island (off the coast of Georgia) by Spanish explorers in the 1600's.  These pigs adapted to the sporadic food supply on the island by developing a non-insulin-dependent diabetes, enabling them to utilize fat stored throughout their muscle tissue as an energy source during periods of low forage availability.  This same adaptation also makes them a good model for obesity in humans.  The entire stock of domesticated Ossabaws is descended from importations of animals for biomedical research over 50 years ago.  While there are still feral pigs on the island, quarantine restrictions do not permit their removal. 

The Ossabaw Island Pig is listed as having a critically low breeding population by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and is included on the Slow Foods 'Ark of Taste' as being an excellent food product in danger of disappearing.