Unusual Swimming Animals

Swimming Pig

On the beaches of Big Major Spot Island, the Bahamas, a family of brown and pink boars and piglets live freely on the sandy white beaches and swim in the tropical surf. This photograph was taken near a small key famous for the “swimming pigs.” A colony of pigs lives on the key, and they often swim near visiting boats.

 

Swimming Elephant

Nazroo, a mahout (elephant driver), poses for a portrait while taking his elephant, Rajan, out for a swim in front of Radha Nagar Beach in Havelock, Andaman Islands. Rajan is one of the few elephants in Havelock that can swim, so when he is not dragging timber in the forest he is used as a tourist attraction. The relationship between the mahout and his elephant usually lasts for their entire lives, creating an extremely strong tie between the animal and the human being.

Swimming Horse

Horses paddle with their legs, with most of the motion from the knee down, and they are quite buoyant. Most enjoy swimming! “Most horses see no reason to enter the ocean–there’s nothing to eat, they can’t drink the water, and they’d have a hard time escaping predators. However, in warm areas with small waves, some horses can actually enjoy ocean swimming.

Swimming Tiger

This is a shot of Odin, a six year old tiger at Six Flags Marine World Africa. Unlike most cats, Odin loves to swim. This shot was taken by my ten year old daughter during her visit to the park. Odin is about ten feet long, was taught to swim by his trainer and by watching another tiger. He is gulping a chunk of raw meat tossed in the water in this photo, that is called motivation–tiger style.

Swimming Deer

If you startled a deer, you might not expect it to jump into the nearest pond and submerge itself for minutes. But that is exactly what two species of mouse-deer in Asia do when confronted by predators, scientists have found. There are around 10 species of mouse-deer, which are also called ‘chevrotains’. All belong to the ancient ruminant family Tragulidae, which split some 50 million years ago from other ruminants, the group that went on to evolve into cattle, goats, sheep, deer and antelope.