Babirusa actually pierce the flesh in the snout. All species of babirusa are listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), shown on their Red List since at least 2010 and current in 2017. The genus is monotypic within the subfamily Babyrousinae, or alternatively considered to form a tribe, Babyrousini, of the subfamily Suinae. To date, only one fossil skull has been found to suggest a larger ancestor. All members of the genus were considered part of a single species until recently, the babirusa or pig-deer, "B. babyrussa", but following the split into several species, this scientific
Wild animal suffering having greater levels of cortisol and elevated stress responses relative to domestic animals. Additionally, unlike domestic animals, animals in the wild do not have some of their needs provided for them by human caretakers. Welfare economist Yew-Kwang Ng has written that evolutionary dynamics can lead to animal welfare which is worse than necessary for a given population equilibrium. In the essay 'On Nature', utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote about suffering in nature and the normativity of struggling against it: In sober truth, nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another, are nature's