With their naked, wrinkly appearance, visitors may wonder if the Oregon Zoo has super-sized its naked mole rats, but they are actually babirusa pigs. The two fine swine make their debut at the zoo's Island
Pigs of Asia exhibit Saturday, May 26. Ten-month-old males Itchy and Scratchy arrived from the Los Angeles Zoo in April and weighed in at 40 and 35 pounds respectively.
"Babirusa are one of the most critically endangered pig species in the world," said Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio. "They are only found on the island of Sulawesi and a couple of very small nearby islands. Their habitat is rapidly disappearing to logging and expanding human populations. And, most unfortunately for the babirusa, they are pigs; which means they taste good and they're easy to hunt."
Babirusa are relatively large swine, reaching up to three and a half feet in length and weighing as much as 200 pounds. The most noticeable feature of babirusa is their tusks. Males have a pair of lower tusk like many other species of pigs. They also have an impressive pair of curved tusks poking through their upper snout and curving toward their foreheads. Scientists aren't quite sure what they are used for, but they may be used to protect their face and eyes when the males fight.
Babirusas prefer to live in moist forests along rivers on several Indonesian islands. Unfortunately, people like to live in the same areas. As the human population grows, the pigs are either killed or forced to move away from the rivers.
Great article!!!Thanks for posting us such interesting articles!!Keep posting!!
Posted by: BPMN | December 19, 2009 at 04:00 AM
Very very horrible pigs like these looks very much scary...
Posted by: BPMN | January 11, 2010 at 05:45 AM