What do you get when you combine a rat, a pig, a zebra, and a fraternity of crocodiles? Well, if you're clever enough, you get a hilarious, albeit controversial, comic called Pearls Before Swine. But just how much do you really know about this eclectic group of animals and the man who created them?

Stephan Pastis was a bored law student in California who spent his class time doodling in his notebook. After sharing some of his drawings with United Features Syndicate, his creation debuted on their website in 2000. Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, shared his interest in the comic with his fans and the popularity skyrocketed! In 2001, Pearls Before Swine was featured in The Washington Post and by 2002 was running in 150 newspapers. Since that initial success, Pearls is running in 750 newspapers worldwide with over a dozen published books.

The meta-comic chronicles the life of a narcissist, sarcastic, anti-hero Rat, along with a kind but naive cannibalistic Pig, an intellectual internet blogger Goat, an unfortunately placed Zebra neighboring the inept fraternity of crocodiles, Zeeba Zeeba Eata, alongside a slew of supporting characters including Pastis himself. Despite the mass popularity of the comic, it has also received much criticism for its controversial nature. Many issues involve adult humor, mock profanity, violence, drinking and drug use, as well as terrorism.

However, in both 2003 and 2006, Pearls Before Swine won the National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip. Pastis has been nominated for the society's Cartoonist of the Year consecutively from 2008 to 2012. In 2015, Pearls also won the Reuben award for best newspaper comic strip.