WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



from a wild species distinct from the common wild boar of 

 Europe. 



Taking simply the outward form of the wild boar, its 

 elevated shoulders, and depressed hind limbs, the body and 

 limbs thickly and entirely clothed with the strong harsh 

 covering of bristles and woolly hair, it is distinguishable at 

 once from that of the really tame or domestic breed when 

 unmixed with the wild race. Another most important 

 character of great value to the zoologist is the condition of 

 the young at birth. All the pure wild boars produce 

 striped young ones. No pure domestic race or breed of 

 pigs known to the writer produce their young so marked ; 

 when, however, a cross can be traced with the wild boar, 

 the striped young are the result, and this may continue for 

 many generations afterwards. It will be fair, therefore, to 

 consider whenever a breed of pigs exhibit the striped 

 young, that it is due to a mixture of the wild and 

 domestic races however remote the period may have been. 

 That the most perfectly domestic race of pigs is obtained 

 from the Chinese, in whose country no wild boar of the 

 European type is to be found, there cannot be a doubt ; and 

 seeing also that whatever the colour of the domestic pigs, 

 whether black, white, or red, or all the three colours, in no 

 instance are the young striped like our wild species, strongly 

 proves that they are derived from some original breed other 

 than the true wild boar race. 



It is therefore with much pleasure that we see imported 

 from China pigs said to be perfectly wild in that country. 

 Long since some interesting pigs were sent to England by 

 Mr. Swinhoe, who obtained them from the savages of 

 Formosa. They were of uniform red in colour, and the 

 young were also uniformly coloured at birth. 



These Chinese pigs are black, and have but little hair, 

 their skins remarkably fine ; the fineness of the skin and 



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