Card #007 · Mammals
Common warthog
Phacochoerus africanus
Common LC · Least Concern
Field notes
- Classification
- Order Artiodactyla · Family Suidae
- Range
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Size
- 0.9–1.5 m (3–5 ft)
- Weight
- 45–150 kg (100–330 lb)
- Lifespan
- ~7–11 yrs (wild)
- Diet
- Omnivore
Most Notable
It shelters in burrows dug by aardvarks, and always backs in rump-first so it faces the entrance with tusks lowered, ready to burst out at any predator that dares to follow it down.
To reach short grass it drops onto the calloused wrists of its front legs and shuffles along on its knees to graze, then trots off with its thin tail held straight up like a raised flag.
Its four tusks are overgrown canine teeth; the upper pair can curve out to about 25 cm and are used to fight rival hogs and to fend off lions.
The "warts" on its face are not warts at all but pads of thickened skin thought to cushion the blows of an opponent's tusks during fights.
Unlike most pigs it feeds in the open by day, relying on speed, running up to 48 km/h, and on borrowed aardvark burrows to escape lions, leopards, and cheetahs.
Range: Grassland, savanna, and woodland across sub-Saharan Africa.