Meet Merlin: the adorable mini pig who amassed a following by ‘talking’ with buttons

At first, he might sound like a toddler: “Mommy! Good morning! Vegetable please!” 

Yet even if you saw the line of multi-coloured buttons lined up in the living room of Mina Alali’s (USA) house, you might be shocked to learn that these sounds are actually coming from… an 180 lb (82 kg) potbellied pig?

That’s right – this is Merlin, Mina’s incredible ‘talking’ pig, who communicates with his human family by using a series of 25 colourful buttons. 

Over the last four years, Mina has trained Merlin to speak and respond to commands by pressing the different buttons with his nose – which emit sounds ranging from simple statements like “yes” and “no”, all the way to comical expressions like “I’m mad!” and requests for food.

After posting videos of his talents on social media, @merlinthepig quickly blew up into a mini pig micro-celebrity, breaking the record for the most followers on Instagram for a pig after amassing an incredible total of 1.1 million followers on the app. 

“At this point, he is recognized every single time we are out in the world,” said his owner, Mina, to GWR. “My fiancé and I joke that it’s like we’re out walking with Brad Pitt.”

Mina has always loved training animals, and she first found social media success after teaching her bearded dragon, Mochi, traditional dog commands like “come”, “high five”, and “wait”. After posting Mochi’s tricks on TikTok, they quickly gathered over one million followers, and Mina became known as “the girl who trained a bearded dragon”.

Nevertheless, she’s always wanted a pig – and in March 2022, her dreams finally came true, when she adopted Merlin. 

“The first year of having Merlin was a huge learning experience for me,” Mina admitted. “He was a lot more vocal (lots of high-pitched squealing), and obviously untrained. 

“It took a lot of patience and work, but I have truly loved him like I would my own child since the day I adopted him, and would do anything for him.”

Pigs are extremely food-motivated, and they do not possess the same fullness cues as humans – so Mina found that training Merlin was easier than her other animals (as long as she had some treats on her). 

She started teaching the clever pig commands when he was just 2.5 months old, and she says this helped him become the well-behaved communicator that he is now – and the “star of the show” of her social media.

“In general, I believe that with patience, time and positive reinforcement, anything is possible with pigs,” said Mina. “They have the intellectual capacity of a three to five year old child.” 

Using a series of 25 buttons, Merlin can communicate his wants, needs, and emotions with the family – including requests for “Mommy” and “Daddy” (Mina’s fiancé), or for playtime with his other animal siblings: a dog, a pigeon, a bearded dragon, and three rats. 

And it’s clear that he has a mind of his own, as Mina’s posts are full of clips of Merlin getting sassy when she denies him a toy, or immediately asking for extra snacks right after dinner.

“Merlin always remains attentive and motivated when there are treats involved, but can get frustrated and stubborn, similar to a toddler,” Mina added. “When he doesn’t get what he wants, he will scream, throw tantrums, and he has even learned to slam doors. 

“Maybe once a week, we find that he trapped himself in the laundry room, as we’ll hear a ‘boing’ from the door stopper. He does this to express his frustration, but he also has a button that says, ‘I’m mad.’”

Read more stories about record-breaking pets in our dedicated Animals section!

Despite his size, Merlin acts almost like a dog in many ways – he is leash trained, and he loves to go on walks downtown so he can take in all the new sights and smells. He loves to cuddle with mom, gets breakfast and dinner each day, and snacks on fresh fruit and veggies during training. 

He also prefers to stay inside the air-conditioned California home, but he will press the “outside” button to indicate when he has to potty – or if he wants to play his favourite activity, sniffing around for oats that his owners sprinkle in the grass. 

Yet Mina will tell you herself, that despite Merlin’s obedient temperament, mini pigs are a lot of work. 

Many mini pigs are often rehomed because their owners don’t expect them to grow more than 100 lbs (45 kg), but that is standard for the breed – and farm pigs can be much bigger. 

It took a lot of dedicated hours of training to get Merlin to the point where he is now, and Mina is so thrilled that he even passed the test to become a Certified Therapy Pig through the American Mini Pig Association.

“I am proud of the fact that Merlin and I have amassed such a large following, because I am confident that the videos I create will spread more smiles and laughter in the world, and also change the way people regard pigs, or ‘livestock,’” said Mina. 

“I truly believe that the world would be a better place if we treated all animals with the same love and compassion that we give more ‘domestic’ animals, like dogs and cats.”

Mina also added that she also believes that it’s very important to show the world how smart pigs are, saying: “Merlin has such a wide range of emotions, very parallel to humans. He experiences anger, frustration, sadness, happiness, contentment, and confusion, just like us. 

“To open up people’s minds and perspectives to the reality of their intellectual and emotional capacity, is all I could hope for.”

And to all those who see her work with Merlin, and wonder how they can get their pets to talk, Mina recommends patience, patience, patience. 

“Doing what you love and showing it off to the world is ALWAYS something to be proud of,” she said. “With consistency and passion, success will come.”