GIANT FOREST HOG



How to Recognize
Found mainly in Uganda, the giant forest hog was one of the last large animals to be discovered in Africa. This VERY large looking pig is covered with coarse, black hair. Ugly! The shaggy coat shows a tolerance for cold, and the boar’s massive facial growths indicate a propensity for fighting.

Habitat
They can be found in dense forests and savanna mosaics, using the dense vegetation for shelter and the adjoining glades and sward to graze in. They can live as high as the upper slopes of Mount Kenya or Mount Kilimanjaro.

Behavior
Mainly nocturnal. It uses shallow indents under logs as beds. It huddles with others in the cold and basks in the sun after the rain and fog. It also wallows. Sounders are usually composed of a boar, a sow, and their offspring from previous litters. These groups live in overlapping home ranges.

Breeding
Two to eleven piglets are born at one time. Very young piglets are straw-colored and lie flat with their mother sounds the alarm to do so. Fighting usually involves charging and ramming. If two heads meet head-on, air compressed between the concave areas of their facial pads goes off like a gunshot!

Feeding
It feeds on grass and herbage, often in the company of buffaloes. It has a wide mouth that is designed for grazing, unlike other pigs that root for tubers.

Enemies
Predators such as hyenas or lions take up to 50% of the piglets every year.


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Copyright © 2002, Dawn M. Dalton.
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