Pigs with probiscus

[BH]

I am reading Darwin's The Origin of Species right now. In the second chapter he mentions pigs that are born with probiscus. I got curious. What animal in the past was an ancestor of pigs that had a long probiscus?

 

[ideologyhunter]

Is that spelling correct? Probiscus? Google wants to tell me about proboscis.

 

[Jarhyn]

Is that spelling correct? Probiscus? Google wants to tell me about proboscis.

Of course they are probiscus, biscus are delicious after all.

 

[BH]

Well shame on me misspelling it. Maybe I'll evolve better memory and spell correctly next time.

 

[skepticalbip]

Well shame on me misspelling it. Maybe I'll evolve better memory and spell correctly next time.

It could be that Darwin had seen a tapir and thought it was related to pigs. Tapirs do look a lot like pigs with short trunks even though they are actually related to horses, not pigs.