CHARLESTON, S.C. - If you joined our field trip to the zoo this afternoon, you met Sir Francis the red river hog, a wild hog from the forests of the Congo and Guinea, and learned all about how they live and grow up.
Francis sure is a cute guy with a goofy smile and a stringy beard, isn't he?
Here are some fun downloadable books about other wild pigs you can find on Hoopla.
Centuries ago, explorers brought hogs to the Americas as a food source. Some of these boars made it into the wild, where their offspring have managed to survive ever since. Wild boars will eat almost anything from garbage, to crops, to other animals. They can also spread disease. Read this book to find out more about how wild boars cause problems around the world and what experts are doing to find solutions.
Tiny Fox And Great Boar Vol. 1
Tiny Fox lives alone beneath his apple tree in the distant hills. He is a happy little animal, busy looking after himself and his foxy things. Then one day, a Great Boar appears and moves in under the apple tree, bringing with him a time of change and adventure. Is Tiny Fox ready?
Tiny Fox And Great Boar Vol. 2
With each day of his trek into the unknown Tiny Fox comes to understand that the world does not end at his valley and apple tree. Forests, fields and mountains spread much farther than Fox's sight can reach... The friends Fox and Boar, craving adventure, set out for further trekking.
Tiny Fox And Great Boar Vol. 3
Tiny Fox and Great Boar always stay together, as best friends should do. They traverse forests and meadows, discovering the unknown. They are seeking answers for questions that bother them: what the mysterious "MBDL" is, and why we are sad when everything isn't going the way we want it to. What the Shadow of Sadness looks like, and why we can't let it catch us. But most importantly, Tiny Fox and Great Boar always find their way because they have each other.
Tiny Fox And Great Boar Vol. 4
Once more Tiny Fox and Great Boar set off across the land, pausing along the way to question where they've come from and where they're going. They meet Steppenwolf, solitary and free roaming, and Boar thinks back on his struggles to find his place within his own family. Where is home, and when is the right time to stop one's adventures and turn back around? By the end, Fox and Boar have their answer.
One day, a baby girl, Tara, is found, abandoned and covered in flies. She is raised by two mothers in a community rife with rituals and superstition. As she grows, Tara pursues acceptance at all costs. Saffiya, her adoptive mother, and Bhaggan, Saffiya's maidservant, are victims of the men in their community, and the two women, in turn, struggle and live short but complicated lives. The only way for the villagers to find solace is through the rituals of ancient belief systems.
Tara lives in a village that could be any village in South Asia, and she dies, like many young women in the area, during childbirth. Her short life is dedicated to her efforts to find happiness, despite the fact that she has no hope of going to school or making any life choices in the feudal, patriarchal world in which she finds herself.
Poignant and compelling, Wild Boar in the Cane Field depicts the tragedy that often characterizes the lives of those who live in South Asia-and demonstrates the heroism we are all capable of even in the face of traumatic realities.