Meat Production in Swamps 



35 



PAIR OF PIGMY HIPPOS IN NEW YORK PARK. 



Although wild and difficult to capture, they have proved rather easily handled, and did not 

 suffer from the hardships of transport from inland Liberia to the United States. Hans 

 Schomburgck, the envoy of Carl Hagenbeck who secured these specimens, managed to 

 tame a full-grown bull only a few days after he had captured it. (Figure 16.) 



ignored in most scientific works^ and to 

 be found in few zoological parks. The 

 New York Zoological Society now pos- 

 sesses three, however, which have 

 aroused the interest of practical breeders 

 as well as zoologists. 



The adult male, supposed to be ten 

 years old, is thirty inches high at the 

 shoulders, seventy inches in length from 

 end of nose to base of tail, with a tail 

 twelve inches long. His weight is about 

 420 pounds. The female is believed to 

 be only three years old, and when re- 

 ceived (1912) stood eighteen inches high 

 at the shoulders, weighing 176 pounds. 

 The Director of the New York park, 

 Dr. WilHam T. Hornaday, describes 



them in the Zoological Society Bulletin 

 (July, 1912) as follows: 



"The Pygmy Hippo is characterized 

 first of all by its midget size, which in 

 the adult animal is about equal to that 

 of a twelve-months-old baby hippo of 

 the large species. Its skull is more 

 convex, or rounded, on its upper surface, 

 than that of H. amphibius; its legs are 

 longer and more slender in proportion, 

 and its eyes do not "pop" out of its 

 head like those of the giant species. 

 Another striking character is the long 

 tail, which in proportion is about twice 

 as long as that of its only living relative, 

 amphibius. 



"The face of the Pygmy is relatively 



2 The principal references are Proceedings of the Phila. Acad. Sci., Morton in 1844 and 

 1849, Leidy in 1852; and Zoo. Soc. Bull., N. Y., Hornaday and Schomburgck, xvi, 877, July, 1912. 



