Wart hog

“ When it is running away from a pursuer, and wishes to see whether it is gaining upon him, the wart-hog presents a most ridiculous appearance, for its neck is so short that it cannot turn its head round to look behind it. ”

“ Wart-hogs produce usually three or four young, and the sow makes her litter in a disused burrow. Unlike those of the majority of wild swine, the young of the wart-hog are uniformly coloured, having no white stripes or spots. ”

“ The adults have frequently no teeth except those just mentioned, and nearly bare skins; and the young are uniformly coloured. Two nearly allied species are recognized, namely, the southern Phacochoerus aethiopicus, which formerly ranged as far south as the Cape, and the northern P. africanus, which extends to the mountains of Abyssinia, where it has been found at a high elevation. In South and East Africa wart-hogs frequent more or less open country, near water, and dwell in holes, generally those of the aard-vark. ”

“ Aard-vark, or the "hog with a wart," is not a pretty name, and he is not a pretty animal. The domestic hog is quite a beauty in comparison, as this one has enormous tusks, stiff bristles, scarcely any eyes at all, and hideous lumps on his face and head ”

“ The Wart Hogs, which resemble the true Hogs, are distinguished from them by the structure of their molar teeth. A fleshy excrescence hangs down on each side of their cheeks, which gives them a repulsive appearance. There are several species to be found in Africa, of which country they are natives. They are very courageous, and possessed of immense strength. ”

“ On the tree by the gate, there were peaches as large as walnuts. A drove of half-wild hogs from the woods went slowly along the village street, with one eye open for food and the other watching for a possible hole in a fence through which they might crawl into a grove or garden. For while no one seems to think it worth while to bolt or even shut a house door at night except for warmth, there must be barbed wire around every growing thing that a hog could fancy. ”

“ The young Englishman, never having seen a wild boar in its native haunts, put the question conjecturally; but a moment’s observation of the animal convinced him that his conjecture was correct. The short upright ears, the long head, hams, and legs, the shaggy neck and frontlet, the foxy red colour, the quick short step as it moved onward—all these points, combined with a certain savage air which Herbert noticed at a glance, satisfied him that the animal under his eyes was not one of the domestic breed, but a genuine wild hog of the woods. ”

“ The United States has accomplished more in the development of new and superior breeds of hogs than in that of any other farm animal. Indeed, in both the quality of the breed and in absolute number the United States stands almost alone in this branch of industry. In 1900 the United States had as many hogs as the entire Continent of Europe.
The hog is the largest consumer of American corn, and where there is an abundance of one there are large holdings of the other. The hog is ready for the market at an early age, and is therefore a ‘quick-money’ animal. ”

“ Five of these species need only be regarded as objects of curiosity; the sixth is the common wild hog of the eastern continent, which we will describe, in order to illustrate the difference between a good and a bad animal of the same variety; they have long-peaked snouts, coarse heads, thin chests, narrow shoulders, sharp backs, slab sides, meagre, diminutive hams, big legs, clumped feet, the hide of a rhinoceros, the hair and bristles of a porcupine, and as thick and shaggy as a bear's; they have no capacity for digesting and concocting their food in the stomach for nourishment ”

“ THE WILD BOAR.
This is the original from which all the different kinds of the tame hog have sprung. He is not subject to the varieties of the domestic races, but is uniformly of a brindled or dark gray, inclining to black. His snout is longer than that of the tame hog, his ears short, and pricked. He has formidable tusks in each jaw, sometimes nearly a foot long,—those in the upper jaw bending upwards in a circular form, exceedingly sharp, being those with which the animal defends himself, and frequently inflicts mortal wounds. ”

“ Their ears have become erect, their heads are larger, and their foreheads vaulted at the upper part; their color has lost the variety found in the domestic breeds, the wild hogs of the American forests being uniformly black. The hog which inhabits the high mountains of Paramos bears a striking resemblance to the wild boar of France. His skin is covered with thick fur, often somewhat crisp, beneath which is found in some individuals a species of wool. ”

“ Startled by the crash, he stood staring at the splintering cars until one of them brought up almost against his garden fence, and a dozen screeching hogs were trying to squeeze through the gate together. Then he struck out valiantly with his sharp hoe, and thought he drove all back, and locked the gate. But when he turned about, three hungry hogs were feasting on his early potatoes, and they led him such a chase that he heartily wished that every hog in the world had been in that herd which in ancient times ran violently down a steep place into the sea and were choked. ”

“ He is fond of a good cleanly bed; and often, when this is not provided for him, it is curious to see the degree of sagacity with which he will forage for himself. "A hog is the cleanliest of all creatures, and will never dung or stale in his sty if he can get forth," says a quaint old writer of the sixteenth century, and we are very much of his opinion. But it is so much the habit to believe that this animal may be kept in any state of filth and neglect, that "pig" and "pig-sty" are terms usually regarded as synonymous with all that is dirty and disgusting. ”

“ From among the cloven-footed or many-toed animals of the pachydermatous order of mammalia, man has subjugated and reclaimed only two—viz., the hog and the elephant.
The domestic hog is the descendant of a race long since subjugated; yet while a race of domesticated swine has been and is kept under surveillance, the wild type whence this race sprung has maintained itself in its native freedom, the fierce denizen of the forest, and one of the renowned beasts of "venerie." Its wild source still exists, and is universally recognized; it roams through the vast wooded tracts of Europe and Asia. ”

“ For example, the South Sea Islands, on their discovery by Europeans, were found to be well stocked with a small black-legged hog; and the traditionary belief of the people, in regard to the original introduction of these animals, showed that they were supposed to be as anciently descended as the people themselves. Yet the latter had no knowledge of the wild boar or any other animal of the hog kind, from which the domestic breed might have been supposed to be derived. The hog is in these islands the principal quadruped, and is more carefully cultivated than any other. ”

“ The ears also are quite nude, and the abdominal surface of the neck, as well as the insides of the limbs and the belly, are nearly so, but the upper and lateral external parts are covered thickly with bristles, even longer and more abundant than those of the wild or tame hog—save upon the ridge of the neck, where the common hog has more or less of, and generally a conspicuous mane, but the pigmy hog little or none"—"the colour of the animal is a black brown, shaded vaguely with dirty amber or rusty red." ”

“ He may allow the sty or the yard to be covered with filth of every description, as disgraceful to himself as it is injurious to the animals. In this case the hog is the sufferer, for naturally it delights in clean straw, luxuriating in it with evident pleasure, its twinkling little eyes and low grunt expressing its feelings of contentment. In fact, the hog, so far from being the filthiest, is one of the cleanliest of our domestic quadrupeds, and is unwilling to soil the straw bed of his domicile if any thing like liberty be allowed him. ”

“ In the matter of pasture, a marshy place is well fitted for hogs, because they delight not only in water, but in mud, the reason for which appears in the tradition that when a wolf has fallen upon a hog he always drags the carcass into the water because his teeth cannot endure the natural heat of hog flesh. ”

“ The huntsman, jäger, goes out with an ugly but useful animal, not unlike a shepherd's dog, but smaller, which is in German language called "a sow-finder." The business of this creature is to seek the hog, and so well trained is he that no other animal will turn him from that particular scent. On meeting with the object of his search he gives tongue incessantly, and with active but cautious irritation pursues the boar till he is at bay ”

“ In some respects swine seem to form an intermediate link between the whole-footed and cloven-footed animals, and the others to occupy the same ground between the cloven-footed and the digitative; but look at them in what point of view we may, these animals present various peculiar characteristics, and are of vast importance as affording the means of sustenance to millions of human beings in all parts of the world. The hog is a perfect cosmopolite, adapting itself to almost every climate; increasing rapidly, being more prolific than any other domestic animal, with the exception of the rabbit ”

“ As roots and fruits buried in the earth form the natural food of the hog, his face terminates in a strong muscular snout, insensible at the extremity, and perfectly adapted for turning up the soil. There is a large plexus of nerves proceeding down each side of the nose, and ramifying over the nostril, and in these doubtless reside that peculiar power which enables the hog to detect his food though buried some inches below the surface of the ground. ”

“ When taken young, they are soon rendered familiar, but they will not intermix with the domestic hogs. When living in their natural state of freedom, they often reside in the marshes, and will swim across rivers. Their flesh, though palatable, is not so good as the common hog; it has a strong resemblance to that of the hare, and is without lard or grease. ”

“ While in the Mississippi country, however, they find other game, and feast upon the hogs of the woods' people. To prevent detection, the skin, with the swine-herd's peculiar mark upon it, is stripped off and buried.
When engaged in the precarious occupation of hog-stealing, the shanty- man is careful to keep a goodly number of the skins of wild animals stretched upon the outside walls of his cabin, so that visitors to his boat may be led to imagine that he is an industrious and legitimate trapper, of high-toned feelings, and one "who wouldn't stick a man's hog for no money." ”

“ A few minutes after that you take him a pail of rich buttermilk, then a large pail of fresh ripe figs, and two dozen ears of sweet corn. You go out in that barnyard an hour afterwards and you don't hear any hog noise. You don't see a hog even moving, for he is lying down in the greatest state of quiet. He will let you do just what you have a mind to do to him. You can scratch him and you will find him good-natured and he seems to enjoy your attentions. He is in such a contented, happy state, that you can roll him or do anything you wish to him. ”

“ The next thing which we shall claim for our porcine clients is sagacity; nor are we here in want of illustrative evidences of their possession of it. But in general there is nothing in the life of a hog, in his domesticated state at least, which calls for any exercise of reasoning powers. His sole business is to eat, drink, sleep, and get fat; all his wants are anticipated, and his world is limited to the precincts of his sty or of the farm-yard. Yet even in this state of luxurious ease, individuals have shown extraordinary intelligence. ”

“ However, they often retain possession to the last moment, frequently disputing every inch with the reapers, and not rarely causing them to leave parts uncut, in the hope that the Hogs will evacuate them; which, if the jungle whither they must betake themselves happen to be remote, they feel no great disposition to do. For at this season the Hog is extremely heavy and indolent, in consequence of the abundance of the excellent food to which he has, for five or six months, been habituated. Hogs are often killed in March with three and four inches of fat on their chines and shoulders. ”

“ The hogs would break through his fence and root up his roses, and the well caving in about the edges became a yawning gulf in his garden, and during the rainy season it partly filled up with water, and a hog fell in one night and, to Carroll’s joy, was drowned.
Men did their best in the dead of a rainy night to get the poor animal out, but a hog is not a being possessed of any capacity for seconding or furthering human attempts at his own rescue. ”

“ However, it is in no way particular, being almost as omnivorous as the hog. Its senses of smell and hearing are very acute. Its eyes, though, are small and its ears short. Its voice is a shrill kind of whistle, such as one would not expect to proceed from an animal of such massive bulk. It is extremely fond of the water, and delights in floundering about in the mud. It can swim and dive also admirably, and will often remain underneath the surface for many minutes together, and then rising for a fresh supply of air, plunge down again. ”

“ Notwithstanding all these differences which M. Vosmaër has described, and the aversion which M. Allamand states it to have shewn to the common sow, I still have my doubts whether [292] it be any thing more than a variety of the European hog; for we know that this species varies greatly in Asia, Siam, and China; and these doubts seem to be somewhat supported, by having found about thirty years since, an enormous head of a wild boar that had been killed in our own woods, the tusks of which were nearly as large as those of the Cape boar. ”