These animals are extremely numerous in all the warm climates of South America. They go in herds of two or three hundred together, and unite, like hogs, in the defence of each other. They are particularly fierce when their young are attempted to be taken from them. They surround their plunderers, attack them without fear, and frequently make their lives pay the forfeit of their rashness. In their native country they prefer the mountainous parts to the low and level grounds; neither do they seek marshes nor mud, like our hogs, but remain in the forests, where they subsist upon wild fruits, roots, and vegetables; they are an unceasing enemy to all the serpent kinds, with which the uncultivated forests of the New Continent abound: as soon as they perceive a serpent or viper, they seize it with their fore hoofs, skin it in an instant, and devour the flesh. These animals are very prolific; the young ones follow the dam, and do not separate from her till they are full grown. If taken young they are very easily tamed, and soon lose all their natural ferocity, but they never shew any signs of docility, but continue stupid, without attachment, or even seeming to know the hand that feeds them. They do no mischief, and may be permitted to run tame, without apprehending any dangerous consequence. They seldom stray far from home, but return of themselves to the sty: they never quarrel among each other, except when they are fed in the same trough. At such times they have an angry grunt, much stronger and harsher than that of a common hog; but they seldom scream, only when suddenly surprised, or frightened, when they have a shrill manner of blowing like the wild boar. When enraged they draw their breath with great force, and point their bristles upward which more resemble the sharp armour of the hedge-hog than the bristles of the wild boar. The species of the Mexican hog is preserved without alteration, and altogether unmixed with that of the European hog, which has been transported to, and become wild in, the forests of America. These animals meet in the woods, and even herd together, and yet never produce an intermediate breed. It is the same with the Guinea hog, which has greatly multiplied in America, after being brought thither from Africa.