THE MANE ATTRACTION. Five Visayan warty pigs currently reside at the Oregon Zoo as part of the Island Pigs of Asia exhibit. The pog includes three adults and two piglets. Samar, the adult male, received a routine health checkup this month (bottom right photo) utilizing the Oregon Zoo’s state-of-the-art digital x-ray machine, made possible with a $100,000 donation from Banfield, The Pet Hospital. (AR Photos/Julie Stegeman)

From The Asian Reporter, V19, #13 (March 31, 2009), page 9.

By Julie Stegeman

Samar the Visayan warty pig received a routine health checkup earlier this month, although he won’t remember it. The boar, who will celebrate his seventh birthday later this year, was anesthetized for the procedure, a process he undergoes about every three years.

Veterinary staff at the Oregon Zoo used a state-of-the-art digital x-ray machine to obtain baseline information on Samar, which can be used as "normal" data if he later becomes ill. According to Dr. Mitch Finnegan, the zoo’s lead veterinarian, it is important to gather baseline data for each animal because often there isn’t a whole lot of information on endangered animals’ typical physiology. While he slept, Samar was also weighed, had blood drawn for tests, and underwent a thorough physical exam.

The Oregon Zoo’s digital x-ray, less than a year old, was made possible for the zoo with a $100,000 donation from Banfield, The Pet Hospital. The equipment was a large leap forward for the zoo — it used to take up to 15 minutes from the time an x-ray was taken to the time the image appeared. Now it takes about 90 seconds, thus decreasing the time an animal must be under anesthetic and at-risk.

In addition, the new machine is much more powerful, enabling veterinary staff to collect good data, even from large animals. Resultant x-rays are much more detailed and clear — the films can be manipulated to provide better images (much like digital camera photos) — and x-rays can be easily sent to experts for help with diagnoses.

Samar is one of five Visayan warty pigs at the Oregon Zoo. There are also two adult females and male and female piglets, which are about four months old. The forest-dwelling pigs are critically endangered — native to only six islands in the Philippines and extinct on four of them. They were only recognized as a separate species in 1993. They are threatened by loss of habitat, hunting, and interbreeding with domestic pigs.

The pigs eat tubers, roots, and fruit, but also are attracted to cultivated crops, bringing them into conflict with farmers and causing them to be branded as pests and therefore fair game for hunters. The Oregon Zoo is the fourth zoo in the nation to implement a breeding program to preserve the endangered animals.

Piglets are about the size of guinea pigs and striped when they are born. The four-month-olds at the zoo still have faint striping and are smaller than the adults. If they notice people watching them, they stop all motion except for their eyes, a mechanism which helps them hide in their native forests. Dr. Finnegan said they lack the ability to habituate and become used to human presence, more so than any of the other animals at the zoo.

Samar came to the Oregon Zoo in 2006 from the San Diego Zoo. Although not very large, he weighs about 130 pounds — it took four staff members to carefully lift him onto the exam table for his checkup. Currently, Samar is resplendent in his "Elvis-style" hair, a thick mane boars grow to attract the ladies during mating season. He will lose the hair later in the year. He also sports three pairs of fleshy "warts" on his face; biologists believe these help protect against the tusks of rival males during fights.

Samar and his fellow warty pigs can be viewed as part of the Island Pigs of Asia exhibit at the zoo, which is located at 4001 S.W. Canyon Road in Portland. To learn more about Visayan warty pigs, visit <www.oregonzoo.org/Exhibits/pigs.htm>.