The snow hog
| The snow hog | |
|---|---|
| File:E916db170b686f3c-detail.jpg | |
| A painting of a snow hog | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia
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| Phylum: | Chordata
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| Class: | Mammalia
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| Order: | Artiodactyla
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| Family: | Suidae
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| Genus: | Sus
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| Species: | S.Hogusgiganticus
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| Binomial name | |
| Sus Hogusgiganticus Hylfred Görenssen, 1798
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| File:Habitat Hog.png | |
| Habitat | |
The snow hog is a gigantic race of wild pigs living in central Scandera and southern Eteisrannikko. Especially so are they known to make their homes in the thick Scanderan forests of the south but also in the valleys of the Vedian mountain chain and finally in the darker forests north of the Vedian mountains.
Etymology
The latin name for the snow hog is Hogusgigaticus because it's large size and is a pun on hog and gigantic in pig latin which really brings home the bacon when it comes to Hylfred Görenssen's well known lack of knowledge when it comes to Latin and his love for puns but people have argued that this is the top of the litter for him but other people have argued that this pun was just like stealing acorns from a blind pig and it was just the pun version of pigging out.
The Scanderan name however is Snö svin or "Snow hog" which refers to the fact that one can generally find the snow hog further north than the regular wild boar but some scholars debates this claim since generally do the two species not live that far from one another and instead do they argue that the fact that the pig turns white during winter is the reason it was originally named snow hog.
History
The snow hog has been well represented amongst Scanderan peoples as far back as the dawn age and the first recording of history and one can find it on the earliest human, troll, goblin, and elven rune stones but even Wharen ruins have pigs depicted on them. Generally have the pig been seen as a very masculine and noble creature and one can find it very commonly depicted at standards, shields, and helmets of the old Scanderan warriors as far back as the bronze age. Even in the modern age have it kept it's warrior image and it is a common thing to depict on figure heads on ship but it is besides bears, wolves, lions and eagles one of the most common icon in federal heraldry.
However due to it's violent temper and it's rather impressive attacks so have the wild snow hog never been domesticated despite several attempts to do so by Scanderans over the centuries. Instead so have the Scanderan domesticated pig rather often been breed to produce hybrids between the regular pig and the wild snow boar similar to attempts to breed half pig and half boars have been made. While these breeding attempts have been effective so do they not produce fertile offspring. These hybrids were named hog-mongrels and were known to be slightly shorter than their wild full blooded counterparts but not as aggressive (even if they were still more aggressive than a regular pig) which made them very sought after creatures. This have resulted in swine herders when they let their swine out in the spring and summer in the large forests so did they try to direct sows towards known snow hog dens and then tried to stay at the outskirt of the known area in the hope that the hogs would impregnate them. Later so would the herders often be forced to try to lure away the dangerous wild boar, something that were generally left to men mounted on horsewolves that could outrun even a snow hog, and then simply recapture the new impregnated sow.
Taxonomy
Originally did Hylfred Görenssen classify the snow hog as just another subspecies of wild boar and often referred to "the four types of wild hogs" referring to the northern, southern and island boars besides the snow hog and in his book ""di marklevande varelserna" so did he name the snow hog Sus Scrofa Hogusgiganticus. Later on so was the snow hog reclassified as a species of it's own and renamed Sus Hogusgiganticus in scientific texts.
Anatomy and health
The snow hog is a gigantic creature even by Scanderan standards but does not differ much more from it's more common smaller counterpart; the wild boar. What is however worth noting is that the snow hog has larger and thicker tusks proprotionaly to their head than the wild boar has allowing them to take down most wild predators that would dare to endanger them and their young.
Reproduction
A male boar have often a large harem of sows in attendance and often mates in late summer/early autumn and the sows give birth to one child later in spring.
Diet
Despite it's aggression so is the snow hog a herbivore and often survives by eating leaves, roots from trees, and berries it can find in the wild. This forces the animal to keep large territories and the herds of boars often have to walk massive distances to be able to eat what they need to keep active.
Behaviour
The wild snow hog is a violent creature and it is known to attack creatures that threatens it, up to even humans but it has also been recorded to attack dragons, mammoths, and cave bears. In some of these confrontations so have even the hog been known to come out on top due to it's thick skin and skull combined with it's razor sharp and long tusks that are able to inflict some downright horrific wounds on foes that would underestimate this giant creature.
Since it is large enough so does this creature often prefers to try to chase off intruders rather than simply slip away from them, this makes it a rather dangerous creature, especially for unsuspecting humans and with the bogbeast and the dragonling so is it one of the most common causes of death in wildlife related fatalities in Scandera. This trend have also given the large pig the nickname "the hippo of Scandera" and the only beast on that list that is not dangerous because of it's poison but because it's size and aggression.
It is also a highly territorial mammal that often keep itself in small groups that keeps massive territories that they guard from other groups of snow hog. The only time this changes is when a male hog have reached adulthood at which point it sets out to found it's own territory. A herd often consists of one large male and several smaller sows and their offspring. If a herd gets too big so does often also younger sows leave the group to find a boar that can protect and feed them.
Life expectancy
A snow hog can live to become fifteen year old.
