Project Description
The warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) is a nearly hairless pig with gray to brown skin, long legs, a straight back, large, flattened head, a dark mane of long, coarse hair, and two pairs of curved tusks. The face of male warthogs has three pairs of large, wart-like masses of thickened skin and connective tissue called callosities that protect the eyes and snout during fights with other males. The more peaceable female has smaller tusks than males and smaller callosities.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species.
Warthogs are well distributed across sub-Saharan Africa. Preferring savanna grasslands, open bushlands, and light woodlands, they can live in arid and open areas that are inhospitable to other pig species. Individuals belonging to different subspecies and populations vary greatly in size, but male warthogs can measure 1.5 meters from head to base of tail and weigh up to 150 kilogram’s.
Warthogs use secretions from glands located near their eyes and lips to mark sleeping and feeding locations as well as for courtship and other social behaviours. “Vocal” communication includes grunting and grinding teeth. Subadult males may form bachelor groups. Adult males tend to be solitary. Females live with their young and other, often related females in small groups called “soundings.” Litters typically include two to three piglets that are born after a five to six month gestation.
Warthogs are prey for lions, other large cats, hyenas, crocodiles, and humans. Boars frequently fight one another, and sows readily protect their offspring. However, despite their extensive facial armour, warthogs prefer flight over confrontation with other species. Surprising fast and agile, they can run at speeds up to 48 kilometres an hour.
Warthogs are hunted for food and entertainment, and their larger tusks are taken for trade. While warthogs are being reintroduced in areas where they had previously been eradicated, other parts of their geographic range have been reduced by desertification, and they are commonly removed from farmed areas where they are seen as a threat to crops and a reservoir for livestock diseases. Warthogs remain an abundant species, but their populations are most stable in protected areas such as Serengeti National Park.
