Babirusa Brothers at the Oregon Zoo

Photos by Sheryl Todd

Click on any picture to enlarge

What a treat it was to visit the Oregon Zoo in Portland and see their two young babirusas up close and active. Lee had seen something about these unusual pig-family members on TV, and then coincidentally read that some had recently come to our nearest zoo. We had to see them.

We thought we were out of luck when the day, predicted to be warm and sunny, was instead overcast and cold. We thought the babirusas would stay in their warm den, but one of the zoo guides told us they'd been out a few minutes before, so we stuck around. Sure enough, they emerged. First one of the two young brothers came out and strode through the yard and returned to shelter. Then they both emerged, ready for play. They chased each other back and around, one pinned the other on the ground in something like a wrestling move, and then both trotted into the water and climbed back out. They went inside their den, re-emerged, and started again. The pigs seemd affectionate and playful, and were a joy to watch. We felt ourselves lucky. They of course reminded me of tapirs, to which they are not closely related except that all have hooves. Still, their movements were reminiscent. Unlike most pigs, babirusas do not root, but eat leaves, like tapirs.

Signs at the zoo show the tusks of an adult babirusa and show their origin on the island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) in Indonesia. As with so many wild animals, babirusas are under threat from humans. Check them out on Google's search. There are a number of excellent sites with photos and descriptions. Until today I didn't know babirusas were so interesting or CUTE (unlike the drawing below, which makes them look like something deformed from outer space - sorry, but I don't think the picture does them justice!).

Click the photo to read the text

Babirusa links I especially like are: The St. Louis Zoo, Wallacea (nice photo), Wikipedia, and some videos. Especially don't miss this this video from the Oregon Zoo! Also check out Ultimate Ungulate for the babirusa's family tree. Here's another good link I just found.

Next door to the babirusas were some ultra cool Vasayan warty pigs from the Philippines. They ended up on one of my other blogs.

One More Picture of the Babirusa

There's not much more to say. I love these pigs! See the post above for the full story. . . .

Dr. Bernice Jameson Todd Elementary School

Kathy Rodriguez took this photo. Bernice was our grandmother on Dad's side. Here is a link to the Dr. Bernice Jameson Todd Elementary School web site. Turn the sound down unless you like digital chattering toucans. Otherwise, it's a pretty web site and it has a link to some information about her life and the reason they named a school in her honor.

Posts and plugs

A couple of days ago I started a blog about my father. It started with a post on the Tapir Preservation Fund blog about the sad and untimely death of Nico van Strien. You can read the post. While writing it, I began thinking of my father. My dad's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and the anniversary of his death is coming soon. The one post led into the other thought, and then I wanted to make a blog in honor of my father. After his death, I intended to collect some material about his life and put it into notebooks for some of the family. I bought the notebooks, collected a couple of things, and got sidetracked. Then I moved. At the moment, I can't find the original collection of things. They aren't gone, they just haven't been found yet.

It's been a busy couple of years. It's time to find my other creative side again (the more personal art, writing, and synthesizing) and play with some of the less-work-related projects I enjoy. I can't really say non-work related, because for the past 11 years tapirs have been my work. They are still a passion and part of my fun, but I need to approach them again from another angle. Ideas are beginning to flow again. That's good.

Oh, and here are the plugs. One of the things I was thinking about was using CafePress for some of my art ideas (and for the tapirs). This came about after a discussion of using that site to sell tapir items for World Tapir Day. Anthony from Australia and Kendra from the US brought up the idea, I checked it out and liked what I saw - for myself as well as for the tapirs. So I was talking with my brother (Gary Todd), who was also needing to find an outlet in something besides work, and he put up a couple of products while I was still noodling around with research and thinking. I especially love his "Corporate Helpers" slogan. It's subtle. One of the jokes is, he IS from Corporate and he has been travelling to the satellite companies. But he gets it. He's got a few more, too, and I hope they sell. That would be fun. [Edited March 2, 2008: Another favorite is Buzzword Bingo. Follow the same link to his store.]

Famous ship size optical illusion, Astoria, Oregon

This is typical, and yet always surprising. You're looking down the street when a ship passes town on the river, and - wow - it look like THIS time the ship is so much closer to the docks. You wonder what's up. Why is the ship nearly in your lap? Nearly on the streets of town? But no, it's actually an illusion. We get used to it, but it continues to amaze. So I'm walking down the street when I see the ship, and I think, "I'll get a photo of the illusion this time." You can see I'm crossing the street one short block from the water by the time I get my camera out of my backpack. First shot. The ship looks only a few yards from the buildings.

I step up on the curb out of the street and take a second shot. The ship still looks big and quite close. Then I begin walking fast toward the boardwalk to get another photo quickly before the ship goes too far up river, but I need to get close enough to the water so my sight line has cleared the buildings. Watch what happens. . . .

Huh? Honest. I didn't fix anything and there are no tricks here. As soon as the ship clears the buildings relative to the viewer's sight-line, everything changes. I haven't moved to a new position, and I didn't wait for the ship to move away from us. Yeah, it's turning a bit north into the river and away from us now. It makes a little difference, but not nearly as much as it appears. It's truly an optical illusion. If I had run at full speed straight onto the boardwalk when I first saw the ship, it would be the same. I'll try to get more of these on "film." They're fun. Usually I'm in my car driving when I notice them and I can't get the photo.