SOME EAST AFRICAN PIGS 
48 
The general characteristics of the Giant pig inhabiting the 
Mau are as follows : — 
A very large, thickset pig, very short on the legs and long in 
the body. The general colour is black with long spare black 
hair covering the whole of the body and legs, longest and 
thickest on the edge of the back in the young animal, but worn 
off or absent in the old animals, doubtless through passing under 
boughs. 
There is usually a white tuft of hair in the sow and young 
on the horizontal tubercle of the face, and this remains in the 
boar as a few scattered white hairs. There are a few white 
bristles on the belly and rump. 
The skin is very thick and strong, indeed of such strength 
and toughness that the Dorobo and the Kakumega people prefer 
this hide to any other, even buffalo, for making their shields. 
The face carries two large tubercles or warts on each side, 
which, however, coalesce. The conical warts of the common 
Warthog are absent. 
Tubercles on the face of the Giant pig are situated below 
the eye on an enlargement of bone (zygoma), and are very large 
and massive. They are covered with short, bristly black and 
white hairs. 
The second pair, which are practically joined to the first 
pair, run from just below the ear forward about half-way along 
the jaw covering the masseter muscle. 
These warts, together with the great lateral development 
of the skull, are a very noticeable point in the Mau species. 
The skull of the Giant pig is large and massive. One 
specimen (ricnasal) measured 19 inches from the ‘ rooting 
bone ’ to the occipital crest and 18 inches between the pro- 
jections of bone below the eye (measured between uprights not 
following the curve). The orbit of the eye is set low, not high 
as in the Warthog, and is not closed. It is small in diameter 
(If inch vertical by 2 inches horizontal) though deep. On the 
roof of the skull there is a curious depression capable of holding 
nearly a cupful of water. This, however, is not present in the 
young animal, the skull being distinctly rounded. 
The lower jaw is massive and shows many ridges for the 
attachment of the masseter muscle. 
