Animal Fact Sheet
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Warthog
Phachochoerus aethiopicus
What does it look
like?
Warthogs are medium-sized wild pigs, typically characterized by
their large heads, short necks and powerful, agile bodies covered
with coarse, bristles. Bristles are black or white on gray skin.
Their eyes are small, with long, expressive ears. Their prominent
snouts end with flattened, disk-like noses and they possess two
sets of distinctive tusks.
- Males have large fleshy "warts" on their faces to
protect them from other warthog tusks during highly ritualized
combat
- Their long tasseled tails, used as fly swatters and to signal
moods, are held upright when running
- Males are larger than sows with more pronounced warts and tusks
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| Where
in the world?
Warthogs are found in savannas and woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa.
More common in the open plains and grasslands, they have also been
found in the arid Sahel region bordering the Sahara desert.
What are some behaviors?
Although they have poor eyesight, warthogs possess a well-developed
sense of smell and acute hearing. They are active in the daytime.
Highly vocal, family groups communicate with squeaks, grunts and
chirrups.
The combination of speed-they can charge up to
30 miles per hour-and 2 sets of tusks is enough to fend off most
predators. Males fight with frontal contact using razor sharp tusks.
Warthogs usually take over abandoned aardvark
dens, but may also make dens under rocks or in sheltered burrows.
They appear to be non-territorial with home ranges of up to 1.5
square miles, living in family groups of usually a few females and
their litters of 4 to 7 piglets, called a "sounder".
What about offspring?
Sexual maturity is attained by 18 months, although males may only
gain access to sows on reaching full maturity at about 4 years old.
Gestation is between 170 - 175 days. The young weighing between
18 and 32 ounces, are born in a grass-lined burrow underground.
Piglets remain in the nest about 10 days before venturing out with
their mother. Each piglet has its own teat. Weaning occurs at about
3 months, but young pigs remain with their mothers in the sounder.
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What does it eat?
Warthogs feed on grasses, herbs, tubers, leaves, fruits and bulbs.
They pluck grasses with their incisors and lips and use the tough
upper edge of their noses to scoop roots out of the soil. Because
of their short necks and long legs, warthogs must feed lowered on
their knees, which have developed thickened pads. Males forage alone,
while sows and their recent litter will forage together in family
parties.
Is it threatened
or endangered?
Because warthogs are symptomless carriers of African Swine fever,
which is fatal to domestic pigs, and host to the tsetse fly, carrier
of the deadly sleeping sickness in man and other fatal livestock
diseases, the warthog is readily eradicated in agricultural areas
of Africa. |
