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 usual mode of growth to that of the Babirusa.
In other respects there seems no affinity between these animals,
and the Babirusa stands completely isolated, having no
resemblance to the pigs of any other part of the world.
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