Part II: Species Accounts60
Taxonomy
A group of 10 skulls from the eastern part of the northern penin-
sula of Sulawesi and the adjacent island of Lembeh was described
by Deninger (1909) as different from the skulls from the island
of Buru. He assigned the name ‘Babirusa Celebensis’ to them.
The local people called these animals Kalowatan (Macdonald
and Leus, unpublished). By association, and for want of data in
2008, all living babirusa on mainland Sulawesi were similarly
called B. celebensis (Macdonald et al. 2008a). The taxonomy of
the babirusa is currently being re-examined (Macdonald et al.,
unpublished).Subspecies and Distribution
The babirusa that once lived in the south-west peninsula are
represented by sub-fossil remains described by Hooijer (1948,
1950, 1954). The current distribution is shown in Figure 6.3.Descriptive Notes
Babyrousa celebensis is characterized by its sparse body hair and
a nearly hairless tail tuft. The adult male head and body length
is 85–110 cm, with a shoulder height of 60–65 cm. Their body
weight may reach 100 kg (Figure 6.2A). The long, relatively thick
maxillary canines of the adult male emerge through the skin of
the nose and curl dorsally towards the forehead. The canine
teeth of female babirusa are very small or absent (Figure 6.2B;
Deninger 1909; Mohr 1960).Habitat
Today, babirusa inhabit tropical rainforest, and are active during
daylight hours (Patry et al. 1995; Clayton & MacDonald 1999).
Whereas previously the animal had been reported to occur in
low-lying areas near coasts, recent anecdotal and survey reports
indicate that the species is now confined mostly to the interior,Figure 6.2 (A) Adult male babirusa from north Sulawesi. Note the dark-coloured wet areas of his body revealing that he had recently been wallowing in mud.
© M. Patry. (B) Adult female babirusa with suckling young from north Sulawesi. Note that the mother is ingesting warm mud from between the stones. © M. Patry.Figure 6.1 (A) Rock-painting, in red striped-line technique, of a charging (babirusa) boar (Heekeren 1972, plate 59). (B) Drawing of the charging (babirusa) boar in
(A) (Heekeren 1972, p. 117).12:34:41