The choiropithekos on the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina.
The choiropithekos (Greek: "pig-ape") or pig-faced baboon was an animal depicted on the Nile mosaic of Palestrina and mentioned in Aristotle's History of Animals, in which the snout of a chameleon is compared to that of a choiropithekos.[1] On the mosaic, it is depicted with a vaguely baboon-like body, and an elongated, dog-like snout.
Early researchers identified the animal as a hamdryas baboon or chacma baboon, although this second animal is only found in South Africa, and is unlikely to have been known in antiquity.[1]
One researcher believed the animal to be a pig, and Paul G. P. Meyboom identified it as a bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus), rejecting the baboon theory. However, Aristotle wrote of choiropithekos, and the bushpig would not have been known in Greece until Ptolemaic times, after his lifetime. Other suggestions include a badger (not known from North Africa), a potto, or some other form of monkey.[1]