the '60s would have been when these pigs were first making their appearance outside Asia wouldn't it? I recall from my old UK zoo books that they were popular exhibits in the '70s especially.
the '60s would have been when these pigs were first making their appearance outside Asia wouldn't it? I recall from my old UK zoo books that they were popular exhibits in the '70s especially.
I'm not sure when they first arrived in the UK, but there was a period around the late sixties/early seventies when they became quite rare and in fact almost died out again. A man with a private collection in Suffolk was at least partly responsible for resurrecting them. There's a story he had a single female(some versions say it was the only one left in the UK) and the only male he could find was an aged, out of condition one at Whipsnade. He either borrowed it or sent the female there to be mated. The boar mated her but the unnaccustomed effort caused him to have a heart attack and die. But the female duly produced a litter from which he was able to increase the numbers again. Its possible of course there were still others about elsewhere at the same time but they were certainly thin on the ground around then.
