It is worthy of note that, while the full-grown individuals of the various species of wild swine are uniformly coloured, their young are longitudinally striped and spotted. In India, besides the common boar, a tiny wild swine, known as the Pygmy Hog, is found in the Bhutan Terai and the forests of Nepal and Sikhim. This pig, which is little bigger than a fox-terrier, runs in considerable troops, or sounders, and is said to attack intruders into its domain much in the same fearless way in which the peccary of America defends its sanctuaries. The height of this diminutive species is given as from 8 to 10 inches—the weight at 10 lbs.
Wild swine are nocturnal in their habits, frequenting moist and marshy country, loving the shade of forests, and making their lairs in tall grass, reed-beds, and similar covert. They go far afield for their food-supplies, and do a great deal of damage to crops in cultivated districts. The European wild sow produces from six to ten young, and at least two litters are usually brought forth in the year.
It is remarkable how quickly pigs, as well as other domesticated animals, revert to a semi-feral state of existence, and develop habits suited to a fresh environment. Mr. J. Turner-Turner sends us the following interesting note in connection with this trait: "Diving-pigs.—These pigs live in an almost wild condition on certain of the islands off Florida, and subsist chiefly upon the refuse fish cast away by the netsmen. To obtain this, the pigs dive under water, walking on the land at a depth of 5 feet below the surface."
Among other Asiatic wild swine are to be mentioned the Collared Pig, found in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo; the White-whiskered Japanese Pig; the Papuan and Formosan Pigs; the Warty Pig of Java and Borneo; the Ceram Pig; the Celebes Pig; and the Bearded Pig of Borneo, a species distinguished by a quantity of long hair carried upon the cheeks. In the Andaman Islands a small, shaggy wild pig, standing about 20 inches at the shoulder, is found in the forests. Although distinguished from the well-known wild boar of India by certain peculiarities, there is a strong family resemblance to that well-known species in most of these various Asiatic species and races.
Among the many kinds of domesticated swine found in Asia, perhaps the strangest and most curious is the Japanese Masked Pig. This animal is described by Darwin as having "an extraordinary appearance, from its short head, broad forehead and nose, great fleshy ears, and deeply furrowed skin. Not only is the face furrowed, but thick folds of skin, which are harder than the other parts, almost like the plates on the Indian rhinoceros, hang about the shoulders and rump. It is coloured black, with white feet, and breeds true. That it has long been domesticated there can be little doubt; and this might have been inferred even from the circumstance that its young are not longitudinally striped."
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co., Parson's Green.
JAVAN WILD PIG.
One of several nearly allied species inhabiting the Malay Islands.
