They may not look like us, but scientists say that sooner than later pigs may save human beings because most of their organs and ours are very much alike.
"The heart and kidney are very similar even in their functioning. So it really is a potential donor of almost all internal organs," said Dr David Sachs of Massachusetts General hospital in Boston.
It is out of this discovery that researchers from the university of California have started a process of growing human organs in pigs to counter the worldwide shortage of transplant.
According to the scientists, the project that is called 'Gene Editing' will ensure that organs for transplant are very clean, available on demand and healthy, so they could be superior to human donors.
The researchers have so far managed to combine the human stem cell and the pig DNA and allowed the embryo to develop for the next 28 days before terminating the experiment and analyse the tissue.
However, critics of the project have stated that it could lead to a potential development of an organ farm.