09 June 2011

Warthog, Pilanesberg


Until face to face with a warthog, one doesn't truly appreciate how bizarre they appear. Commenting on the previous photo, Zhoen pointed out how much southern ground hornbills look like dinosaurs; similarly, warthogs remind me of some of the long-gone, prehistoric mammals — turn the tusks upside down and you'd almost have a bantam Uintatherium.


[2 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 200, 1/500 at f6.3]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor

5 comments:

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

Funny - I've had "Richard III" on my mind a lot lately, and this fits perfectly on that train of thought ;-0

Zhoen said...

So much character, an ugliness so extreme it's weirdly cute.

pohanginapete said...

Barbara, I don't know Richard III well enough to understand the connection, but I'm glad you recognised something in the photograph!

Zhoen, nicely put. They did seem to be favourites when I was with other people, and something about their behaviour seemed appealing too.

michael.offworld said...

They look like they are smiling. Luckily they don't run around here.

pohanginapete said...

Michael, they do look cheerful don't they? But, if they were running around here I'd be a bit nervous — those tusks are impressive.