Animals that Swim A friend asked me the other day
if a stoat can swim, for he was sure he had seen one in the water of a stream, but it got out and eluded him before he could positively identify it. Stoats and weasels are not over-fond of the water, but I saw a stoat once crossing a stream, without the slightest hesitation, in pursuit of a rabbit. This happened on a very cold day in the north just about the time the stoat changes coat. I assumed that he was particularly hungry. Rabbits, of course, frequently cross streams by swimming when hunted or driven to seek food. In, fact, I think nearly all animals will take to the water in an emergency, althciugh I have never been sure about the pig. There is an old country story that a pig just cannot swim because the action of his forefeet will cut his throat or puncture his heavy jowl. Whether this is so or not I don't know. It sounds a plausible tale. I have encountered all sorts of things in the water, but never a pig. Has the domestic pig been bred until he cannot swim? He often wallows in the mud and stands in fairly deep water and, it he cannot swim, he certainly has no fear of water. Perhaps someone who has met a pig in mid- stream could clear up the point.
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