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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