Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
while it may have been thought to be “quite sporting” by British standards, the consequences
were often disastrous for both man and beast.
Shadows of Kamhlabane:
When I was growing up my father had a 20 by 30 yard stone enclosed pig sty for a fairly
primitive type of pig that probably interbred with the wild pigs (bush pigs) from the veld
around us, or at least with the native feral hogs they came from. I never remember piglets and
that may be because wild African bush pigs can interbreed with domestic pigs but their
offspring is sterile. Or predators took them. There were many 2 to 4 foot high animal tunnels in
the long grass near the sunken stone enclosure we rarely dared to explore, except occasionally
with our dogs leading the way. Wild pigs are nocturnal, sleep in heavy cover during the day,
and like musk ox under threat, they often sleep in a circle with their heads facing outwards to
better detect any potential threats. With their vicious lower killing tusks they can easily
disembowel other animals or stab them in the chest.
These pigs we had still had the primitive crunchy tasty cartilage in their bacon, different to
modern antibiotic raised pigs. They were quite wild tasting but pleasant since they received
“good” food, whereas the wild African pig often do not taste good because they are omnivores
and feed on carrion and other animals unless they are raiding the local farmers corn “mielie”
fields. Near the pigsty was an abandoned grove of mango trees that dropped fruit onto the
ground that also attracted wild animals and birds. One of our laborers used to take the hospital
left-over food to the pigs and dump the food over the stone wall for them but one day he
climbed into the pen and got quite severely mauled in the leg. Warthogs, including so called
tamed ones, will also bite peoples' legs, if not also use their tusks to attack people as they do
in attacking other animals.
Warthog Charging Leopard trying to protect her Piglets
Kobie Kruger relates in her topic how the soldiers near Crocodile Bridge, some 40 miles
away from where I grew up, had tried to chase warthogs that were becoming a problem away
from their camp but the warthogs instead turned on the soldiers and won the battle leaving
several soldiers injured.
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