Pigs and elephants

[Music] pigs have been a source of food since pre historic times they furnish us with ham and bacon as well as fresh pork the father pig is called a boore a mother pig called a sa gives birth to from 9 to 12 young pigs twice each year a pig has cloven hoofs which make it able to walk through mud without getting stuck the large snout helps the pig in digging for food under the soil it is used to push up the sad these young pigs are already learning to dig in the ground for insects and other food pigs grow rapidly in a year this one will be as large as his mother but now let's look at some of the relatives of domestic pigs from other lands the babusa a wild pig of the East Indies is one of the strangest of all pigs the mother has no tusks but the father has very long tusks those on the upper jaw grow up through the skin of the nose both sets of tusks curve backward the feet have two large toes with two small toes behind the babusa sleeps during during the day and feeds at night in damp forests and swamps it eats plants and insects the natives of the East Indies often tame the babusa and raise it for food the warthog a wild pig of Africa is another relative of the pig but it is rarely domesticated it's called wart hog because of the large warts on its head and face another peculiar feature of the wart hog is the long hair on the back it uses its enormous tusks both for defense and in digging its food from the ground for it feeds mostly on the roots of plants this animal lives on the plains of Africa resting by day and coming out to feed at dusk the pygmy hippopotamus is about the size of a large domestic Pig the skin is black very shiny and almost completely without hair the pygmy hippopotamus lives in Northwestern Africa in swamps and damp forests the four toes of the broad flat feet are partially connected with a web of skin which allows this animal to walk safely on swampy ground it wanders great distances through the dense tropical forest to obtain its food grass young choots of trees and wild fruits the lips are used to pull the grass from the ground and the leaves from plants like most relatives of the pig the pygmy hippopotamus sleeps during the day and feeds at night many people think this animal is a young hippopotamus but if we compare it with the common hippo we'll see that it's really quite a different animal the common hippopotamus is found in many parts of Africa living in families of two or three or in large herds of 20 to 30 the feet seem small for so large an animal but when we realize that the hippopotamus spends much of its time floating in the water we see the reason why the Flesh of the hippopotamus is used by the African natives for food the natives often have difficulty in piercing the thick hide with their primitive weapons for the skin is very tough and may be as much as an inch and a half thick unlike the pygmy hippopotamus the common hippo lives chiefly in lakes and rivers its eyes are built like periscopes and the animal can remain underwater with only its eyes above the surface the nostrils can be closed while underwater and the hippo can remain submerged for 5 minutes the open mouth of a hippopotamus is truly an amazing sight its enormous tusks are useful in cutting grass and water plants on which it feeds they also may be used in fighting and are so sharp that they've been known to pierce the bottom of a native Dugout canoe large teeth farther back in the mouth crush the five or six bushels of food needed to make a good meal for a hippopotamus the hippopotamus usually has one baby each year it takes to the water like a duckling during the day hippopotamuses or hippopotami rest either in the water or among the dense Reeds at the water's edge at dusk they come out onto land to feed where man has planted crops near the water they do much damage eating corn and sugar cane and trampling the crops as they go from one field to another unless frightened they will not return to the water until dawn the elephant is not a member of the pig family however it belongs with the hippopotamus to the padm or thick skin group of animals elephants are the largest living land mammals there are only two kinds of elephants the Indian and the African the African elephant is usually taller it has very large ears and a low forehead for centuries elephants have been hunted for their tusks which are the chief source of ivory the African elephant is never domesticated here we see an Indian elephant easily recognized by its smaller ears and high forehead although the elephant is supposed to be very intelligent he actually isn't as smart as your dog the Indian elephant is easily trained and his large size and great strength enable him to carry heavy loads he's usually very tame and obedient in India and other lands of the East he's trained to carry logs and is ridden on tiger hunts this is the kind you see in most most circuses unlike the hippopotamus an elephant spends most of his time on dry land and therefore needs large legs and feet to support his great weight as much as 5 tons the bottom of the foot has a large soft pad to take the shock of moving the huge body the feet are used in defense the elephant can kill any smaller Animal by stamping on it an elephant's skin has very little hair and is thick and wrinkled the eyes are very small and the Elephant cannot see very well although he does have large ears he doesn't hear very well either and relies almost entirely on his sense of smell for finding food and water and warning him of danger the nose is greatly elongated and forms what we call the trunk this is the mouth of the elephant the long pointed lower lip is used for grasping the food passed to it by the trunk the trunk is very flexible and serves as an arm while the small muscular flap of skin at the end of the trunk serves as a hand with it the animal is able to pick up small objects like like the peanuts you've probably fed to elephants at the circus the trunk is also used by the elephant in drinking he sucks the water into his trunk and then squirts it into his mouth this zoo elephant is eating hay his natural food is grass and leaves and twigs of trees elephants frequently push over trees to get at the leads we've met some animals with you're familiar and some which may be new to you excepting the elephant all of those you have seen are close relatives and are members of the pig group next time you visit a farm or Zoo remember the foreign relatives of the common domestic [Music] Pig