Two species of Peccary are known, the COMMON, OR TAJUCA, OR COLLARED PECCARY (Dicotyles torquatus), which ranges from Texas as far as the Straits of Magellan, and the WHITE-LIPPED PECCARY (D. labiatus), of the forests of South America. The latter is the larger of the two and the more ferocious.
THE FOSSIL HOGS.—The remains of the Fossil Hog are met with in the fossil state in Europe, as far back as the Miocene Age, in which period, as Professor Gaudry has pointed out, the canines were not developed into large tusks in the Hog tribe. In the Pliocene Age the males possessed moderate tusks, and in the Pleistocene, as at the present time, the forests of Europe were haunted by large “tuskers.”
HIPPOPOTAMI IN A MEADOW BY THE SENEGAL.
CHAPTER IV.
ARTIODACTYLA—THE HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY.
Present Representatives—Two Species—[THE COMMON RIVER HORSE]—General Appearance—Characteristics: Skin, Head, Nostrils, Eyes, Ears, Legs, Tail, Mouth, Tusks, Dentition, Skeleton, Stomach—Habits—Food—Under Water—Behemoth of the Bible—Used in the Roman Sports—As described by the Ancient Naturalists—As portrayed by the Ancient Artists—The First Hippopotamus in England—Subsequent Inmates of the Zoological Gardens—Herds of Hippopotami—Harpoon for Hunting—Sir Samuel Baker’s Accounts of Hippopotamus Hunts—Various Methods of Capture—Occasional Fits of Blind Fury—A Night Attack upon a Diahbeeah—Uses of the Hippopotamus—[THE LIBERIAN HIPPOPOTAMUS]—Fossil Forms—[THE ANOPLOTHERES].
II.—THE HIPPOPOTAMUS FAMILY (HIPPOPOTAMIDÆ).
THE Hippopotami, or River Horses, constitute the second family to be considered next after the Hogs, among the non-ruminant hoofed animals possessing an even number of toes on each foot. They are represented at the present time by two closely-allied species found only in Africa, the Hippopotamus amphibius, or Common River Horse, which haunts the rivers of Africa from the Sahara desert to the Cape Colony; and the much smaller Liberian animal, living on the west coast and on the rivers flowing into Lake Tchad.
THE COMMON RIVER HORSE (Hippopotamus amphibius) is a large, unwieldy-looking animal, sometimes as much as eleven or twelve feet long, with a massive body and enormous head, and short stout legs. Nevertheless, it is capable of moving swiftly on the land and of swimming with perfect ease. Its skin is naked, thick, and penetrated by pores which exude a thick fatty secretion, which may perhaps be useful to it while in the water. The front part of the head is massive, and broader than that of any other living quadruped; the nostrils are comparatively small slits, which are closed and water-tight during the frequent dives beneath the surface of the water; the eyes are prominent, and placed far back in the head and the ears are so short that they look as if they had been cropped. They, too, have a special arrangement of muscles by which they can be closed. The short legs are terminated by four hoof-bearing toes; and the short tail is adorned with bristles arranged laterally and on opposite sides, which are the only traces of hair found on the animal. The mouth is very large, and armed with tusks and grinders, that present a fearful appearance when the animal opens its mouth with a gape, which is unsurpassed in width by that of any other animal. The tusks are enormous, especially those in the lower jaw, which are curved upwards as in the Hogs, and meet those of the upper jaw close to their sockets. By the attrition of their surfaces together their tips are reduced to a chisel edge. Between these great teeth are four front or incisor teeth, of conical shape, in both upper and lower jaws, those in the latter being the larger. The grinders in each jaw are three in number, and of a trefoil pattern on their worn surfaces; while the false grinders in front of them, four in number in each jaw, are conical, sharp-edged, and resemble those of the Hogs. The skeleton is very Hog-like, and the stomach is divided into four compartments. The liver has a gall-bladder, and the kidneys are divided into lobes.