chiefly in the trees, but often descending on the ground and robbing
gardens and orchards.
Anoa depressicornis, the Sapi-utan, or wild cow of the Malays, is an
animal which has been the cause of much controversy, as to whether it
should be classed as ox, buffalo, or antelope. It is smaller than any
other wild cattle, and in many respects seems to approach some of the
ox-like antelopes of Africa. It is found only in the mountains, and
is said never to inhabit places where there are deer. It is somewhat
smaller than a small Highland cow, and has long straight horns, which
are ringed at the base and slope backwards over the neck.
The wild pig seems to be of a species peculiar to the island; but a much
more curious animal of this family is the Babirusa or Pig-deer; so
named by the Malays from its long and slender legs, and curved tusks
resembling horns. This extraordinary creature resembles a pig in general
appearance, but it does not dig with its snout, as it feeds on fallen
fruits. The tusks of the lower jaw are very long and sharp, but the
upper ones instead of growing downwards in the usual way are completely
reversed, growing upwards out of bony sockets through the skin on
each side of the snout, curving backwards to near the eyes, and in old
animals often reaching eight or ten inches in length. It is difficult to
understand what can be the use of these extraordinary horn-like teeth.
Some of the old writers supposed that they served as hooks, by which
the creature could rest its head on a branch. But the way in which they
usually diverge just over and in front of the eye has suggested the more
probable idea, that they serve to guard these organs from thorns and
spines, while hunting for fallen fruits among the tangled thickets of
rattans and other spiny plants. Even this, however, is not satisfactory,
for the female, who must seek her food in the same way, does not possess
them. I should be inclined to believe rather, that these tusks were once
useful, and were then worn down as fast as they grew; but that changed
conditions of life have rendered them unnecessary, and they now develop
into a monstrous form, just as the incisors of the Beaver or Rabbit
will go on growing, if the opposite teeth do not wear them away. In old
animals they reach an enormous size, and are generally broken off as if
by fighting.
Here again we have a resemblance to the Wart-hogs of Africa, whose upper
canines grow outwards and curve up so as to form a transition from the
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