Common Warthog
Phacochoerus africanus
Come check out our special summer visitors in the outside yard toward the back of the tropical rainforest building! The two adult male warthogs on exhibit here are brothers. Males, called boars, have more prominent thick pads of skin, or “warts” on their faces. At mating time, boars push and ram each other with their heads and blunt upper tusks, and the warts act as pads to cushion the blows, so they rarely injure each other. Aside from their unique appearance, common warthogs are known for their strength, intelligence and flexibility. They are also skilled at adapting to new threats in their environment. In areas with human disturbance, warthogs often switch to foraging at night instead of morning and early evening. They have longer legs than most members of the pig family and can run up to 34 miles per hour! If running away is not an option, they are not afraid to put up a fight. They are also the only pigs able to live in areas without water for several months of the year. By tolerating a higher body temperature, the warthog can conserve moisture inside its body that might otherwise be used for cooling.
Description:
The common warthog is a tough, sturdy animal that can weigh between 110-330 pounds. They are between 3-5 feet in length and stand about 30” tall at the shoulder. Females are smaller, but both have two pairs of tusks and three different kinds of facial warts. The two blunt upper tusks emerge from the sides of the snout, and the lower tusks at the base of the uppers are worn to a sharp cutting edge. Warthogs have large heads, and a mane that goes down the spine to the middle of their back. There is sparse brown or black hair covering the gray skin of their body, and their long tail ends with a tuft of bristles. When they run, warthogs carry their tails upright.
Habitat:
Commonly live in open and wooded savannas, grass steppes and semi-deserts in Africa. They avoid rainforest, true deserts and high mountains.
Range:
From Mauritania to Ethiopia and south to Namibia and eastern South Africa.
Diet:
Mostly a grazer with an omnivorous diet composed of grasses, roots, berries and other fruits, bark, fungi, eggs, carrion, and even small mammals, reptiles and birds. The diet is seasonally variable, depending on availability of food items. Areas with many bulbs, rhizomes and roots can support large numbers of warthogs. They are powerful diggers, using both heads and feet. When feeding, they often bend the front legs backward and shuffle along in a kneeling position. Despite poor eyesight, warthogs have good hearing and a strong sense of smell which helps them locate food.
Lifespan:
Up to 15 years in the wild and 18 in captivity.
Family Life:
Warthogs live in groups known as sounders. The core of the sounder is usually a female, or sow, and her offspring. Female warthogs leave their mother when they are sexually mature, but may return with offspring later. Sows are social, using many different noises to communicate within the sounder, and will help groom each other and even help rear young. Boars may stay in the sounder when they are young, but as they reach maturity move out into small bachelor groups. Although boars are mature by 20 months, they may not mate until they are about 4 years old. Common warthogs have the longest gestation of all pigs, from 170 to 175 days. Sows isolate themselves to give birth, and stay underground nurturing 2-5 tiny, hairless piglets for the first week. Except for brief excursions or to change dens, piglets remain in the burrow 6 to 7 weeks, after which they follow their mother everywhere in a certain order. They begin grazing within 3 weeks but will continue to nurse for 6 months. Infants are susceptible to both extreme temperatures and predation, which is why the juvenile survival rate is less than 50 percent in the first year of life.
Status:
Currently, common warthogs are not a protected species, but many populations are in serious decline due to over hunting in unprotected areas. Wildlife reserves are trying to protect warthogs, but outside of these areas there are no regulations on hunting.
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