Mary Kay Heath, age 11, of Willingboro, N.J., for her question:

HOW BIG IS A BABIRUSA?

Babirusa is the more proper name for a wild pig. In its family is the common domestic pig and the warthog. The babirusa, a native to Celebes Island, Indonesia and other islands east of Borneo, is about 31 inches high at the shoulder, has a body that measures about 3 1/2 feet long and weighs about 200 pounds.

The babirusa has long upper tusks that pierce the skin of the snout and curve backward like horns. The tusks of the female are shorter than those of the boars and they grow upward and back to meet the skull between the eyes    making them almost useless as weapons.

In the wild, you'll find the babirusa moves about mostly at night, either alone or in small herds, and has a keen sense of hearing, although the ears are relatively small. It is wrinkled, thick skinned and hairless.

The babirusa is a good swimmer, and in the marshy forest where it feeds on fruits and grubs, it is seldom far from water. The litter of the babirusa is one or two uniformly colored young. Sometimes the babirusa is domesticated.