Common Warthog

Scientific name: Phacochoerus africanus
Common name: Common Warthog
Afrikaans: Vlakvark
Setswana: Kolobe

Description

The Warthog has a compact and robust body. The neck is short and the head is long with a thin tripped tail that erects automatically when running. The ears have rounded tips and small eyes are set high on the head. Beneath each eye on the side of the head is a prominent lump, so-called wart. The Warthog has two pairs of tusks protruding from the mouth and carving upward and carving upwards. The lower pair is shorter than the upper pair and becomes razor-sharp by rubbing against the upper every time the mouth is open.

Habitat

They live in grasslands, savannas, open bushlands, and woodlands. These animals prefer open areas and avoid rainforests, thickets, cool montane grasslands, and severe deserts.

Diet

Warthogs are mainly grazers but do eat everything from seeds to roots and underground stems. They usually kneel when grazing due to their short thick necks. They also take fruit, bark, and invertebrates, and they are also known for killing rats, frogs, and snakes. Eat bones, soil, and stones to obtain minerals. Babies eat their mother’s dung to inoculate their guts with bacteria.

Behaviour

Warthogs are diurnal animals with little activity at night, even in winter. They shelter in large holes usually abandoned by aardvark burrows, and also use small caves, erosion gulleys and drain culverts. They modify holes by digging with their forefeet and enter the holes backwards so that pursuers can face their tusk. Warthogs can use the same hole for a few consecutive nights but there is no long-term use of a particular and they may be shared with other animals. They are social animals living in groups called sounders. Females tend to stay in their natal groups, while males leave, but stay within the home range. Subadult males associate in bachelor groups but live alone when they become adults. They have two facial glands: the tusk gland and the sebaceous gland, they mark sleeping and feeding areas and waterholes. They do mud wallowing to cool down the body and remove parasites, they also rub on rocks, trees and similar surfaces, leaving mud smears lower than most produced by rhinos. They are capable of fighting but their primary defense is to flee by means of fast sprinting. However, if a female has any piglets, she will defend them very aggressively.

Conservation status

Major threats to warthogs include droughts, disease, and hunting. These animals suffer from habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, and competition with livestock for water and food. They are often killed for bushmeat, and tusks, as bait for hunting large carnivores. They are classified as the least concern (LC)

References

1. https://animalia.bio/warthog
3. Peter Apps, Mammals of Southern Africa, A Field Guide (2012) Page 183-185