NEW ORLEANS—A pair of water-loving pigs with rust-colored fur and floppy ears are moving into the Audubon Zoo, the first new exhibit since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
The red river hogs, Matthew and Isabel, are native to rivers in West Africa, but they will be moving into an exhibit this week that was once home to a hippo that spent most of his 44 years at the zoo.
The hogs don’t look much like the curly-tailed pigs on farms and in cartoon. To start with, they’re hairy. They have a ridge of white hair all the way down their backs. Then there are those long leaf-shaped ears with black-and-white tassels. Their faces are long and black with white markings and white side whiskers.
The hogs grow to about three feet in length and can weigh up to 200 pounds. The male hogs’ snouts have big lumps, which scientists believe protect their faces during fights.
Matthew and Isabel are 3 years old and were born at the Denver Zoo.
Matthew and Isabel would have been in their new digs at one of New Orleans’ major tourism attractions much earlier if another hurricane, Gustav, hadn’t delayed renovations.
Part of that work included reducing the depth of the ponds where Tony the hippopotamus lived until his death in May 2005, just months before Katrina hit in August.
Zoo officials decided against getting another hippo, curator Rick Dietz said.
“The red river hog is a new animal to the collection,” he said. The exhibit space allows the zoo to consider more than one animal for the space formerly required for one huge hippo.
Now three feet shallower, the smaller pond will be filled with water and the larger with dirt, as a hog wallow. It also includes grass and trees and can hold up to six red river hogs, Dietz said.
The public will get to view the hogs beginning Saturday to give them time to get used to their new quarters.
