Warthog

Warthog is a member of the pig family Suidae and the order Artiodactyla. The scientific name of a warthog is Phacochoerus aethiopicus. The wild warthog can widely encounter from the open and light forested areas of Africa. An adult warthog has sparse hair, large-head, blackish or brown animal. The average length of a warthog while standing is about 76 cm. Usually, the biggest warthog has a coarse mane extending from the neck to the middle of the back, and it has a long, thin, tufted tail that it carries high while it is running. The male warthogs have two pairs of bumps or warts on their face.  Both male and female animals bear tusks. The lower jaws of warthogs act as small weapons and upper jaws are curved upwards and inwards in the form of a semicircle. The warthog tusks can attain a maximum length of about 60cm in some male animals. Usually, the warthogs are gregarious animals, which can feed on grasses and other vegetation. They often prefer to shelter in the burrow of large aardvark. While they are entering the backward, they can defend themselves. 

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The above image shows the warthogs standing near the pond to drink water .

Physical Appearance of Warthog 

Hairs of warthogs contain hair with a stiff and prickly texture. and their bodies and heads appear large naked from a distance. They have crest along the back and tufts on their cheeks and tails. The facial wattles are different from male and female warthogs. Even the warthog tusks show distinct characteristics. The male warthogs can reach up to the maximum length of about 10 to 25 inches and female warthogs are smaller than male warthogs. Most of the warthogs are largely herbivorous and some animals can even eat meats. The count of the warthogs are declining at a large level so, the IUCN has kept them as the least concerned species. The desert warthogs are also known as cape warthog and they are about to extinct around 1865. 

The white warthog has a large head with a skull sharply sloped short neck. Body of the warthogs are robust, barrel shape. They have minimal hair with four legs. Warthogs are longer than other species in the suids family. The knees of warthogs are calloused and are even present in the fetus. The tail of warthogs is long and slender with the flattened tip and have dark hairs. The largest warthog has an adult pelage/coat. 

The skin colour of warthogs is dark grey or black in colour. The skin of warthogs determines the colour but not the hair present in the body.  The body of warthogs is sparsely covered with white bristles. The soil from holes or wallows will get adhere to hairs and get the impression of a grey or brown body hue, these also obscure the true body colours of warthog. 

Mane is the hair around their neck. The warthogs have mane with yellowish to jet black in colour. They run from the nape across the withers and along the back. The mane of warthogs is long on their shoulders and neck. They get often erected, while they are fighting with other animals. Usually, the young warthogs appear pink in colour for a  few days to weeks after birth. 

The facial characteristics of the largest warthogs have a broad appearance with forehead, muzzle, and snout broad and flattened eyes, which are placed high and wide on the head of the warthog. They usually have fibrous tissues, which are paired on either side of the face and also present below cheeks, lower jaws and behind the upper tusks. The upper tusks are longer and flare upwards from the snout and the tip of the tusks are curved inwards in older individuals, particularly females. The lower tusks look straight, blade-like appearance with sharp edges.  The ears of warthogs are held above the head and they have white hair in the posterior edge of the lower jaw.

Usually, the warthogs show sexual dimorphism in their size. The size of male warthogs is larger than female warthogs. During the time of birth, both males and females are of similar size. Male warthogs have larger tusks and warts than female warthogs. Also, the female species have 4 pairs of mammae. Fibrous warts present in warthogs provide combat and cushion the skull and protect the brain and tendons. The number of 2n chromosomes in warthogs are about 34. 

Behaviour and Ecology of Warthog 

Usually, the Warthogs are Diurnal species, which means they are active during day and night. Warthogs will acquire 60 - 70% of their daytime activities. The energy of the warthogs is peaking in the early morning to late afternoon. The female warthog looks for feed longer time than the male warthog. Usually, the white warthogs prefer to live in bushes or burrows and avoid midday heat or rainy weather. Sometimes, the adult warthog wallows mud during high temperatures. Most of the time, the warthogs remains inside the burrow during nighttime. The burrows or holes of warthogs provide shelter from cold and rain during the night and protect them from heat and predators during the daytime. 

Generally, the warthogs get shelter in aardvark burrows or erosion-gulley holes, but they uncommonly prefer caves. The burrows of warthogs are short with wide entrances and they choose the area close to the water with lower burrow density. Usually, the female warthogs do not have any apparent burrow during the breeding season. The white warthog changes their sleep pattern in burrows frequently. They are rarely active during the night. They are also not a seasonal migrator. 

Warthogs do not have apparent boundaries and they will vary their locality between 0.24 to 6 km2 radius.  Some warthogs prefer to live alone and some prefer to live in groups. The location of warthog may vary depends on population, season and availability of feed. Encountering Solitary adult females are common. The male warthogs are primarily alone and they get to associate with females during mating season. The group of female warthogs are also known as sounders. Matriarchal groups contain one or more breeding females with their offspring.  Usually, white warthog offspring emigrate to surrounding areas and male animals are more likely to disperse than females. The sounders contain solitary adult females with their infants, juvenile and yearly offsprings. Sometimes with multiple adult females without young warthogs. The average range of sounders is about 2 to 8 individuals, these numbers get fluctuate seasonally. The number of animals in the group also dimensions the sleeping behaviour of warthog. 

Mostly, the warthogs do not show any territorial behaviour. They do not patrol territories and they do not defence territories, core areas or sleeping holes. Also, they deposit urine and secretions from glands located on the face. Warthogs are aggressive animals. They use their heads to hit and push their opponents. With the help of their broad snout, they push and rapidly disengage and strike back on their opponents. Usually, wild warthogs use their heads, no tusks. The warthogs chase among themselves for gaining position, water resources and affiliative behaviours. 

Reproduction in Warthogs 

The courtship behaviour of the warthogs is different, The male warthog identifies the female warthogs using the smell of urine and determines their reproductive status. Male warthogs will fight with other animals during the seasonal ruts. warthog tusks remain unused for the long term. Most of the warthogs are widely spread over in Eastern and Southern Africa. Male and female species mate at the end of the wet season. Also, they give birth to young ones during the rainy season. The species that are close to the equator region will go year around reproduction. The duration of the estrus period is about 72 hours, Every cycle will last for 5 to 6 weeks.  Secretion from the vulva discolour from the hind end of a female warthog is the indication of estrus. 

The gestation period of the warthog is about 155 to 175 days and it is about 5.2 to 5.8 months. The birth of an individual may get vary depends on the time.  Warthogs zimbabwe give birth to young ones during spring. Likewise, the warthogs in South Africa give birth during summer.  Also, the birth of warthogs in Uganda falls from March to June. 

The female adult warthog which is going to give birth will leave sounder 3 weeks prior to parturition and live alone. The young warthogs are born within a burrow. After every gestation period, the warthogs will give birth to 1 to 8 piglets on average warthogs give birth from 2 to 4. The average weight of warthogs will vary from 480g to 850g. The piglets will attain minimum maturity at the age of 1 year. 

Piglets will remains inside the burrow for about 25 to 50 days after birth. The suckle of warthogs is different from domestic piglets. The nipples of warthogs are not in order, they regularly change their orders. This makes young warthogs limit synchronized sucking. Usually, the weaned period of warthogs complete in 21 weeks. The piglets at the age of months will start getting solid food. Also, mother warthogs frequently nurse their young ones till the age of 10 weeks. The milk of warthogs is similar to the domestic pigs. That contains 19-20% total solids, 7.3% fats, 7.0% protein, and 3.4% sugars.  Colostrum in warthog milk may be higher in protein. 

Warthogs disperse from natal clans attain the subadult stage at 1 to 2 years. Both the male and female warthogs leave a natal clan and form their own group near their birth space. 

Warthogs will attain sexual maturity within 2 years and start to produce their first reproduction at the age of 2 years. The average life span of warthogs is about 14 years and as per the study, the longest living world record warthog recorded with the age of 18 years 7 months. Usually, the wild warthog faces many difficulties. So, their average life span falls at 12 years. 

Threats to Warthogs 

The mortality rate of warthogs is too high as they are getting affected by swine fever, rinderpest, bacterial infections, tuberculosis..etc. Also, many people hunting warthogs for food and tusks. They are also killed on a large scale as they are transmitting diseases to human beings. Warthogs are also killed to reduce Ornithodorous moubataticks and tsetse fly populations. Even the severe drought and monsoon failure can also impact the warthog’s population on large scale. 

Population and Conservation of Warthogs 

The exact count of the number of warthogs leftover in the world remains unknown. But the current population of the warthogs are decreasing in great trend. In South Africa, about 22,250 species are leftover. So, IUCN kept the warthogs on the least concern list with a high reproductive rate. And their populations are declining on large scale in South Africa. The warthogs are not listed in the CITES list. The main threats for warthogs are hunting and drought. These may lead to localized extinction of species and no modern conservation measures exist.