BABYROUSSA. 



a pig a handsome pig:, as compared with the wild 

 boar, or even the best-shaped varieties of the domesti- 

 cated pigs, but still, to all intents and purposes, a pig. 

 The snout is produced, cartilaginous, and flexible ; and 

 though some of the accounts say that the babyroussa 

 does not root up plants after the manner of pigs, the 

 snout is certainly one that could be used for that pur- 

 pose jn fact, one formed expressly for it ; and if it has 

 not been observed so using it, the conclusion is, that it 

 had no necessity for doing so. Though rooting-up is 

 a general habit with tame pigs when they are let into 

 pastures where there is nothing but grass, it must be 

 considered as a dernier ressort with them when in a 

 state of nature ; for in the forest of deciduous trees, 

 such as oak and beech, which are their favourite 

 haunts, the cartilaginous nose is used chiefly for the 

 purpose of pushing aside the herbage, so that they 

 may get at the fallen acorns and mast ; and while 

 these last, they never root up grass or any other 

 plant. When necessity compels them to have re- 

 course to grass and other herbage, the parts which 

 are blanched under ground suit both their taste and 

 digestion better than those which are above the sur- 

 face and green. Their teeth are not so well adapted 

 for chewing grass as those of grazing animals ; and 

 their digestive system is much more simple : thus 

 they require more succulent and nutritious food, and 

 they find that in the roots of plants, especially when 

 the vegetation of the part above ground is not very 

 vigorous. It may be that, from the nature of its pas- 

 tures, the babyroussa may not generally practise that 

 operation ; but it is evident from its structure that it 

 could find its food in that manner if necessary. 



The form of the head, the size and position of the 

 eyes, which arc small and oblique, and the shape of 

 die cars, are all pig-like ; and the thickness of the 

 neck shows that the animal is formed for over- 

 coming resistances by the action of the snout, 

 without giving an impulse to the body by means of 

 the feet. The body, though not quite so thick in 

 proportion to its length as that of the wild boar, is 

 still formed after the same model ; and there~!s the 

 same fulness of muscle on the upper parts, both oi 

 the fore and hind legs. The tail is longer than in the 

 wild-boar, or the common hog, and it ends in a brush ; 

 but still it is a true "pig-tail" slender, round, and, 

 though sometimes straight, admitting of being curled 

 The feet also correspond, though the two middle 

 hoofs on which the animal walks are broader, and noi 

 so sharp ; and the lateral ones, which are in the rear 

 arc not quite so much produced or pointed, as those 

 in the wild-boar. The feet are less apt to sink in sof 

 ground; and that, with the increased length anc 

 lightness of the legs, indicates that, in its ordinary 

 habits, the animal travels more in quest of its food. 



The most extraordinary parts of the babyrousst 

 arc its tusks. They follow the general character o 

 the genus in sticking out of the mouth ; but they an 

 more produced, and different in form. There is ar 

 approach to the same character in the Ethiopian boar 

 in which all the jaw tusks, which are very formidabl 

 weapons, are curved upward, and have their point 

 above the line of the muzzle. But the tusks in th 

 upper jaw of the babyroussa form quite a spiral in th 

 adult males; and though they are large and for 

 midable, the animal cannot readily use them for th 

 purpose of inflicting w r ounds. Those in the lower ja\ 

 are not nearly so much recurved ; and as they ar 

 powerful, and have their points very keen, they ar 



capons of a very formidable description. The 

 rcngth of the neck, and the action which it has 

 hen the animals " root," assist the whole genus 

 reatly in giving those terrible wounds which they 

 an inflict by the upward stroke ; and which, if we 

 xcept those given by the horn of the rhinoceros, are 

 erhaps the most fatal inflicted by any animal. No 

 nere bite, by the motion of the jaws alone, can make 

 o terrible a laceration as the tusks of this genus, 

 elivered as their stroke is, by the whole muscular 

 ction of their very powerful neck. 



Still these formidable weapons, and this power of 

 iving them effect, are defensive only on the part of 

 ic whole genus ; and the same may be said of the horn 

 f the rhinoceros. All weapons of attack which ani- 

 nals use when no danger is apprehended, contribute 

 irectly to the killing or capture of that upon which 

 :iey feed. But the tusks of the genus Sus do not in 

 ny way assist them in the procuring of their food ; 

 bey never use them but for the purpose of defence ; 

 nd though we are apt to suppose that they make 

 vanton and vicious attacks, we should, were we able 

 o analyse all the cases, invariably find that appre- 

 :ended danger, of some description or other, is the 

 ause. If the defence of the animal is personal only, 

 t seldom, if ever, shows fight, unless directly assailed ; 

 ut almost all animals have, occasionally at least, other 

 lefences besides that of their own persons. The fe- 

 nale, the young, and even the pasture, are all at times 

 bjects to be fought for ; and those animals which are 

 not carnivorous are generally more forward and more 

 aliant in those cases than when the object is simply 

 heir own safety. The genus Sus probably have more 

 powerful instruments of defence than most other ve- 

 etable feeders. Their young are numerous, and 

 quite defenceless ; and their flesh, at all ages, is, in a 

 state of nature, sweeter, perhaps, than that of any 

 other race of animals. 



In this last respect the babyroussa is not an cxcep- 

 ion. Hence it is much hunted ; and, like all hunted 

 animals, is shy and distant. The shyness of hunted 

 animals is rather a curious matter ; and. simple as it 

 may seem, it is one upon which mistakes are com- 

 mitted. The vulgar notion, both in conversation and 

 in books, is, that the hunting is the cause of the timi- 

 dity. In the case of the individual or the herd, that 

 might have at least some appearance of truth, but it 

 could not extend to the race ; and even in the indivi- 

 dual it is an assumption rather than a truth. The 

 stag, which has never been hunted before, runs as 

 readily and as fleetly as he that has been kept for the 

 purpose, and hunted every season for years. The 

 converse of the vulgar opinion is, indeed, much nearer 

 the truth ; and the dispositions of the animals to 

 run, or otherwise to make their escape, seems rather 

 to be the cause of the hunting. In most chasing ani- 

 mals there is what we may call a dash of cowardice 

 at least it is slaughter they seek, and not battle for 

 they all prefer catching their prey unawares, or by 

 stealth if they can ; and accordingly, those which will 

 pursue a strong animal if it runs, will be checked, or 

 even retire, from a much weaker one, if it stands and 

 shows fight. Hence running, and especially running 

 in packs or herds, is a great inducement to the ani- 

 mals which give chace : if overtaken, the capture 

 will be without a battle ; and the number in view 

 render that capture more probable. There is not 

 much truth in the common saying, that animals get 

 shy in proportion as they are hunted by man : that 



