Porcine Knowledge

Is she a wizened old gal with wisdom to share for the rising generation of pigs? Or is she simply another overfed hog?

Anyone know what breed this is? Those are some big ears and a very wrinkled face. I was thinking Meishan, but they tend to be hairy and not so pink. At times like this I deplore my dearth of porcine knowledge!

UPDATE: Anonymous has identified this as a fengjing pig. Thanks, anon.

Pot-Bellied

Are Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs really supposed to get this big in captivity? This one is housed at the Granby Zoo in Quebec, Canada, so I assume it's being properly cared for. Maybe I assume too much...

I once had a friend (I know, hard to believe), who owned a pot-bellied pig. The pig, who was by then full-grown, had free run of their several acres. One day my friend's mom was backing up in the mini-van. She didn't think to look behind her, and so was quite surprised when her van heaved and bounced over something in the driveway. When she came to a halt, she looked over her steering wheel to see that she had run over the pig. The pig, for his part, got to his feet (he had been sunning himself in the early morning sunlight), grunted at the van in indignation, and walked up to the porch where he resumed his nap.

Photo source: Gaëtan Bourque

Simply Warthogs

This scene played out in Parc National de la Pendjari, Benin. The big warthog chased around the little one for quite some time.

My first thought was that the big guy's a real jerk. Pick on someone your own size, right? But then, being a big brother, I have many memories of chasing down my young siblings because they egged me on. There's a decent chance that the little guy has it coming.

Bully? Comeuppance? In the end, they're simply warthogs.

Photo source: Jonas Van de Voorde

Babirusa at Rest

Aw, look at the little babirusa sleeping. How sweet is that? Look at the naked, wrinkled, porcine flesh as it naps in the shade. How about those elfin, bat-like ears? Oh, and those precious teeth, with the upper tusks thrusting through the flesh of the snout? Seriously, just like seeing a child who has been misbehaving all day fall asleep and you're reminded of how much you love them, so it is when you see this pig at rest.

Photo source: Marika Bell

Why do those teeth grow through the snout like that? If you talk to the natives of the small tropical Indonesian island of Sulawesi, it's because the pig likes to rest his head by hooking the tusks over low hanging tree branches (I could use tusks like that...).

Or perhaps the tusks curve back like that to protect the eyes and face from the lower, slashing tusks of rival males. Whatever the reason, take a moment and look at your own teeth in the mirror and take some consolation from the fact that no matter how gnarly they are, how much like baked beans or candy corn they may look like, not one of them has grown through your nose and is now protruding over your eye.