CHAPTER IX 



PIGS 



Suidee 



Africa is remarkable for the peculiarity of its pigs. It 

 is a land in which pigs have run riot and evolved such 

 grotesquely ugly forms as the wart-hog. Three very dis- 

 tinct genera occur wide-spread throughout the tropical part 

 of the continent. Two of these, the wart-hog and the 

 forest hog, have doubtless originated on the continent, while 

 the third, the bush pig, is of European or Asiatic derivation. 

 The true pigs as a family are distinguished by the simple 

 or primitive condition of the feet, which have all four toes 

 well developed, but the lateral pair show signs of atrophy, 

 while the middle pair are decidedly enlarged and support 

 the weight of the body. The canine teeth are enlarged into 

 cutting tusks, and the tip of the snout is broadened into a 

 flat disk for rooting. This expanded snout is supported by 

 a peculiar bone, the prenasal, which lies embedded between 

 the tips of the nasal and the premaxillary bones. The 

 stomach is simple, without the complicated chambers of 

 the ruminants. The pigs are moderate or small-sized un- 

 gulates, without horns or antlers. They are confined to the 

 Old World, ranging from the temperate region of Asia south- 

 ward throughout the tropics and westward through Europe 

 to the British Isles and south over the continent of Africa. 



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