The Pigmy Hog 



THE PIGMY HOG 



(^Sus salvanius) 



Native Name. — Sano-banel^ Nepalese 



(Plate vii, fig. 8) 



Its diminutive size serves to distinguish the wild 

 pig inhabiting the sal-forests of the Terai-land at the 

 foot of the Himalaya in Nepal, Sikhim, and Bhutan, 

 from all its relatives, although structurally it does not 

 appear to differ essentially from other members of the 

 genus Sus. The females have only three pairs of teats, 

 instead of the six pairs found in other pigs ; a feature 

 which might be regarded sufficient to justify the 

 reference of the pigmy species to a genus by itself. 

 In this case it would be known as Porcula salvania^ a 

 name proposed by its describer Brian Hodgson, on the 

 supposition that it had one pair of molars less in each 

 jaw than ordinary swine. 



In size the pigmy hog does not surpass a hare, the 

 height of a full-grown boar not exceeding a foot, and 

 the length from the muzzle to the root of the tail being 

 only about 26 inches. The tail is short, measuring 

 only about an inch and a quarter ; and the ears are 

 small and naked. Although there is no distinct crest, 

 the hairs on the hind part of the neck and the middle 

 of the back are slightly longer than on other regions 

 of the body. The general colour of the adult is brown 

 or blackish brown, owing to a mixture of brown and 

 black hairs ; but the young are marked with longi- 

 tudinal rufous stripes on a brown ground, with the 

 under-parts white. 



Hodgson describes the pigmy hog as living in herds 

 of from five to twenty head among the tall grass-jungle 

 of the Terai ; the old boars associating with the herd. 

 Since they only come into the open at night, these pigs 

 are rarely seen, and still more rarely shot. 



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