The Pig and Hippopotamus 



313 



Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co., Panon's drr 

 JAVAN WILD PIG. 



One of several nearly allied species inhabiting the Malay 

 Islands. 



Wild swine are nocturnal in their habits, frequenting 



moist and marshy country, loving the shade of forests, 



and making their lairs in tall grass, reed-beds, and similar 



covert. They go far afield for their food-supplies, and do 



a great deal of damage to crops in cultivated districts. 



The European wild sow produces from six to ten young, 



and at least two litters are usually brought forth in 



the year. 



It is remarkable how quickly pigs, as well as other 



domesticated animals, revert to a semi-feral state of 



existence, and develop habits suited to a fresh environ- 

 ment. Mr. J. Turner-Turner sends us the following 



interesting note in connection with this trait: "DrviNG- 



PIGS. These pigs live in an almost wild condition on 



certain of the islands off Florida, and subsist chiefly upon 



the refuse fish cast away by the netsmen. To obtain 



this, the pigs dive under water, walking on the land at 



a depth of 5 feet below the surface." 



Among other Asiatic wild swine are to be mentioned 



the COLLARED PIG, found in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo ; 



the WHITE-WHISKERED JAPANESE PIG; the PAPUAN and 



FORMOSAN PIGS ; the WARTY PIG of Java and Borneo ; the CERAM PIG ; the CELEBES PIG ; 



and the BEARDED PIG of Borneo, a species distinguished by a quantity of long hair carried 



upon the cheeks. In the Andaman Islands a small, shaggy wild pig, standing about 20 inches 



at the shoulder, is found in the forests. Although distinguished from the well-known wild 



boar of India by certain peculiarities, there is a strong family resemblance to that well-known 



species in most of these various Asiatic species and races. 



Among the many kinds of domesticated swine found in Asia, perhaps the strangest and 



most curio as is the JAPANESE MASKED PIG. This animal is described by Darwin as having 



"an extraordinary appearance, from its short head, broad forehead and nose, great fleshy ears, 



and deeply furrowed skin. Not only is the face furrowed, but thick folds of skin, which are 



harder than the other parts, almost 

 like the plates on the Indian 

 rhinoceros, hang about the 

 shoulders and rump. It is 

 coloured black, with white feet, 

 and breeds true. That it has 

 long been domesticated there can 

 be little doubt; and this might 

 have been inferred even from the 

 circumstance that its young are 

 not longitudinally striped." 



In Africa, besides the Euro- 

 pean wild boar, which there 

 extends its range to Algeria and 

 Morocco, a little-known wild pig 

 is the SENAAR BOAR, found in 

 Senaar, Kordofan, and the Soudan 

 region. In the late Dr. Gray's 

 " Catalogue of Carnivora " this 

 wild pig is described as having 

 the fur dense and bristly, and 

 40 



Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] 



MALE AND FEMALE BABIRUSA. 



[Parson's Green. 



The chief characteristic of this pig is the peculiar and enormous development of the tusks in 

 the male, the upper pair of which grow through the lips and curve backwards. 



