Common warthog

Characteristics

• Warthogs are densely built animals, with males weighing up to 250 pounds; females are smaller, weighing up to 150 pounds.

• Both males and females have tusks. Tusks are more pronounced in males (up to 11 inches; average tusk length is 5-6 inches) and can be formidable weapons in self-defense or in competition over mates.

• The “warts” are not actually warts, but padded lumps of cartilage and skin. More prominent in males than in females, these growths may serve to cushion the eyes during a confrontation.

• Warthogs have an extremely keen sense of smell, but their eyesight is poor.

Habitat and Diet

• Found throughout savanna and grassland areas of east and sub-Saharan Africa, warthogs sleep in burrows or in erosion-gully crevasses. While they are expert diggers, the animals tend to prefer burrows dug by other species, especially aardvarks.

• Warthogs are omnivorous, feeding on fruit, roots, seeds, bulbs, nuts and fungi, as well as eggs, insects and carrion. When opportunities arise, they will also consume smaller dead mammals, although they do not hunt live prey.

Behavior and Communication

• Rooting is a warthog’s primary means of obtaining food. This is done not with the tusks, but with the prominent, elongated snout. The animals walk on their thickly-calloused front knee joints when rooting.

• Vocalizations include loud grunts and squeals. Warthogs also use body language, including tail position and head angle, to communicate with others.

• While they usually flee confrontation when possible, warthogs will fight when threatened. If cornered by a predator (cheetahs, hyenas, leopards, lions, wild dogs), they often enter a burrow backside-first, presenting their intimidating heads and tusks.

• In hot weather, warthogs wallow frequently to cool their bodies and keep insects away.

Status in the wild

Warthogs are not currently listed as threatened, but they are hunted for meat, and their tusks are used in jewelry and ornamental decorations.

Reproduction

• A group of warthogs is called a sounder and is usually composed of females (sows) and their offspring. Males (boars) live solitarily or in bachelor groups, joining the opposite sex only when females are in estrus.

• Females usually give birth to one litter (average three or four piglets) per year. Gestation is five to six months. Piglets are typically weaned by the time they are 6 months old, although they may remain with their mother until her next litter is born.

Lifespan

Average 15 years in the wild; up to 18 years in captivity