Warthog

Quick Take

• Warthogs look like fighters, but their real survival strategy is something most prey animals never pull off. Flight over fight →
• They're called herbivores, but there's a specific condition that flips their diet entirely. When warthogs scavenge →
• Warthogs never dig their own homes, relying instead on another animal for shelter. That animal is not who you'd expect. Aardvark dens explained →
• Female warthogs have a parenting behavior that's rare even among mammals, and this finding is changing how scientists think about swine social bonds. Foster nursing behavior →

A large member of the swine family, the warthog is an animal species that is best known for its four sharp tusks and padded bumps, or warts, on its face. The females of the species are quite social and live out their lives in family groups called sounders. Although they may look vicious, these animals prefer to run from predators rather than fight and are not aggressive unless backed into a corner. Warthogs have a conservation status of “Least Concern” at this time, but humans have become a severe threat to these animals due to overhunting in certain areas.

Incredible Warthog facts

• The thick bumps on a warthog’s face help to protect the males when they fight during mating season.
• Warthogs don’t build their own homes. Instead, they move into abandoned aardvark dens.
• Female warthogs are social animals and live in groups called sounders, while the males are more territorial and prefer to live alone.
• Like other pigs, they don’t have sweat glands and must roll around in the mud to cool off.
• Females who lose their own babies will foster other nursing piglets.

Classification and Scientific name

The warthog is a mammal, which means it is warm-blooded and its young are suckled by the females. The common warthog’s scientific name, Phacochoerus africanus, comes from the Greek words “phakos,” which means “a mole or wart,” and “khoiros,” which means “a pig or hog.” As you can see, that translates directly to its common name, warthog. The last part, africanus, refers to its location in Africa.

Types

There are two species of warthog:

• Common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), which has four subspecies
  • Nolan warthog (P. a. africanus)
  • Eritrean warthog (P. a. aeliani) 
  • Central African warthog (P. a. massaicus) 
  • Southern warthog (P. a. sundevallii) 
• Desert warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus), once thought extinct but recently discovered in East Africa, has different facial features. For example, the ends of the ears have curled-back tips; the incisors are missing, and the snout is larger. There were two subspecies, but the Cape Warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus) went extinct in South Africa in the 1870s, though it survives as a subspecies in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The remaining subspecies is the Somali warthog (P. a. delamerei).

Evolution

These two species of warthog may have diverged as long as 4.4 million years ago. Research is revealing a long history of interbreeding, adaptation to diseases, and expansion of range.

Appearance

Warthogs have big heads with padded bumps on each side and four sharp tusks. They are dark brown in color and mostly bald, but they do have a thick mane that runs from their head to the middle of their back. They also have tiny, tufted tails that stand straight up in the air when they run. Warthogs are unusual in that they will kneel to drink from a pool of water or to graze, which has given them calloused pads on their forelegs.

The average size is between 100 and 330 pounds and about 22 to 33 inches tall at the shoulder. The males of this species tend to be larger than the females.

Behavior

Because of the warthog’s size and appearance, many people think they are aggressive. On the contrary, they generally prefer to run away from predators rather than fight. Reaching speeds of up to 30 miles an hour, they are quite adept at outrunning danger. When fleeing danger, they will back into their dens with their massive tusks facing forward so they can defend themselves if necessary.

This species of the pig family likes to wallow in the mud like its domesticated cousins. They submerge themselves both to cool down and to avoid insects. Warthogs also enjoy a symbiotic relationship with oxpeckers to help rid them of insects. These small birds ride on the warthog’s back and eat the insects that irritate them.

Habitat

Warthogs are native to sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Mauritania to Ethiopia and south into Namibia and eastern South Africa. They prefer to live in open areas like grasslands, savannas, and woodlands. While they avoid severe deserts, they will sometimes live in a semi-desert area. Though warthogs are excellent diggers, they don’t make their own dens. Instead, they move into abandoned aardvark dens.

Diet

Warthogs are primarily herbivores that eat grass and tubers almost exclusively, though they will occasionally eat meat when food is scarce. They have thick, calloused pads on their forelegs that protect their limbs while they bend to graze. If food is scarce, they will scavenge carcasses or eat insects to fulfill their caloric needs, but they never hunt for their food. They can also live for a few months without any water during dry seasons.

Predators and Threats

The most common predators of the warthog are lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and crocodiles. Eagles can also pose a threat to babies. Since many of these predators are nocturnal hunters, warthogs go out to forage during the day and return to the safety of their burrows at night.

Humans also threaten the warthog population due to habitat encroachment and overhunting. In areas where humans are the most common predators, these animals will adjust their schedules to forage at night and hunker down in their dens during the day.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

Males are known as boars, while female warthogs are known as sows. Both boars and sows have many mates throughout their lifetime. Unlike many other animals, the males rarely become aggressive during the mating season. Fights do occur from time to time, but these fights rarely cause significant injuries as they usually only strike with their heads and upper tusks.

Warthogs have the longest gestation period of any pig species. Sows are pregnant for about 175 days and generally give birth during the dry season. Litters contain an average of three babies, called piglets. The piglets live exclusively in the den with their mothers for about six or seven weeks, and the females can live in the same sounder as their mothers for their entire lives.

On average, these animals live about 7 to 11 years in the wild and up to 20 years in captivity.

Population

At this time, warthogs are at “Least Concern” on the conservation list. Their numbers have begun to dwindle in some areas because there are no regulations on how many of these animals may be killed by one hunter. This lack of regulation has led to overhunting. A recent count showed about 22,250 warthogs in South Africa, but they live in other African countries as well.

Warthogs are still thriving in wildlife reserves, but many zoos have had little to no success breeding them in captivity.