Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstra85861922roya).pdf/258

 The Bearded Pig (Sus barbatus) in the Malay Peninsula.

We owe the remarkable discovery of the Bearded Pig in the Malay Peninsula to Dr. W. S. Leicester an enthusiastic sportsman who obtained a single female specimen some years ago in the vicinity of Pekan, Pahang. The occurrence, however, was so remarkable and so at variance with preconceived ideas of geographical distribution that pending further evidence it was not considered advisable to place the occurrence on formal record. Now however that a further specimen has been obtained from the same locality there is no doubt whatever that the species must be regarded as a member of the peninsula fauna, though as noted below we think it not improbable that its presence is really due to some extraordinary change resulting in the landing of a herd from Borneo, the home of the true Sus barbatus, or from the Rhio Archipelago where the rather dubious race S. barbatus oi is found.

In answer to queries Dr. W. S. Leicester wrote under date March 19th. 1918, in reference to the original specimen–a fully adult female: "Yes I am quite certain she was shot in the neighbourhood of Pekan. I remember a herd of this breed appeared in the neighbourhood and I shot this large sow and several half grown ones from time to time but could not get at the big boar which was very cunning and got away every time. They were some time about Pekan but eventually disappeared and I have not come across any since."

Dr. Leicester very kindly presented this specimen to the F. M. S. Museums.

Mr. J. E. Kempe, District Officer, Pekan, has now obtained the skull of a boar, which he has generously presented to the Raffles Museum, Singapore; he writes under date December 6th, 1921: "It was shot by Towkay Lee Cheow,—an old Pekan character who has hunted and kept a pack these thirty years about six weeks ago at a place called Sungei Genek, some two miles up river from Pekan town. He gave me the skull and the description and told me that in all his experience extending over thirty-three years, and including the slaughter of thousands of pigs he had never seen such an animal....... He told me that the remarkable things about it were its great length and height, but what impressed him most was the fact that it had a thick tuft of hair under each eye about two inches long and a good sized beard.

"It weighed 130 katis (240 pounds) and was very emaciated. He said he thought, if in condition, it would have scaled 230 katis or more. It was a solitary boar."