WARTHOG



How to Recognize
An almost naked gray pig with a long mane, massive facial warts, upward-curving tusks (actually enlarged canine teeth), and a skinny tufted tail. They run with their tails high in the air (too funny!). They "walk" on callused bended knees when rooting using their tusks as digging tools.

To determine the sex, females have a single pair of facial warts under the eyes whereas males have a second set further down the snout.

Habitat
Savannah, open woodlands, and grasslands. They shelter in abandoned aardvark burrows or termite mounds which protect them from the weather and predators, and they also use them as birthing dens. They enter these habitats backwards so any animal following it faces its sharp tucks.

Behavior
Diurnal. They live in family groups, comprising of up to four related females and their young. The sight of a line of young warthogs proudly trotting behind their mother with their heads high and tails straight up in the air has inspired the popular name "Kenya Express."

Males form bachelor groups and only associate with the sows during the breeding season. Warthogs bask in the sun and huddle for warmth.

Breeding
Females give birth to two to five piglets in a burrow after a 160-170 day gestation. The piglets are weaned after six months. For mating rights, boars will push face to face then suddenly side swipe each other with their tusks. Their huge warts protect their faces from serious damage.

A boar will often sniff around after dark for a sow in heat that's sleeping in a burrow, and if he finds one he'll waylay her as she emerges in the morning. It's not surprising that warthogs are prolific breeders!

Feeding
They feed mainly on grass but occasionally they eat fruit, bark, and even soil for the minerals. They root for bulbs, tubers, roots, and bulbs during the rainy season.

Enemies
All except large boars are popular prey for lions, cheetahs, and hyenas. Infant mortality is particularly high. When being pursued, a warthog will bolt to the nearest hole, turning at the last second to back down the hole and lash out at its predator with its tusks.

Lions are smart enough to wait outside these occupied holes for the warthog to come out. Since a warthog backed into the hole, it will come out with a running start. But if a lion is really hungry, it will dig the warthog out.


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Copyright © 2002, Dawn M. Dalton.
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