Vasayan warty pigs at the Oregon Zoo

I'm starting with two portraits. The one above is my favorite, because of the wonderfully expressive eye and the telltale dirt on its nose. (Please click on the picture for a better view, then use your Back button to return.) But the next pig portrait is more resplendent, showing the gorgeous mane. Too bad I didn't get the top picture framed as nicely as the bottom one.

Below is the pig family. Again you can see the expressive eyes, especially of the one in front (you really will have to click the photo to see this).

Finally, I included the picture below because it's the only one I got of the male showing his tusk. The hair is not bad, either.

Follow this link to the stuffed version of these pigs. It's a beautiful animal. Althought the coloring is inexplicably different from live warty pigs, it is totally charming and artistic. The red coloring is luscious, and the ivory-colored tusk is the icing on the cake.

If you like these pigs (and who wouldn't), please come see the babirusas on this blog.

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.]