The Warthog or Common Warthog (''Phacochoerus africanus'') is a wild member of the pig family that lives in grassland, savanna, and woodland in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past it was commonly treated as a subspecies of ''P. aethiopicus'', but today that scientific name is restricted to the Desert Warthog of northern Kenya, Somalia, and eastern Ethiopia.
The common name comes from the four large wart-like protrusions found on the head of the warthog, which serve the purpose of defence when males fight as well as a fat reserve.
Warthog ivory is taken from the constantly growing canine teeth. The tusks, more often the upper set, are worked much in the way of elephant tusks with all designs scaled down. Tusks are carved predominantly for the tourist trade in East and Southern Africa.
The head of the warthog is large with a mane that goes down the spine to the middle of the back. There is sparse hair covering the body. Color is usually black or brown. Tails are long and end with a tuft of hair. Common warthogs do not have subcutaneous fat and the coat is sparse, making them suceptible to extreme environmental temperatures.
The male is called a boar, the female a sow, and the young piglets.
Although capable of fighting, with males aggressively fighting each other during mating season, a primary defence is to flee by means of fast sprinting. The main warthog predators are humans, lions, leopards, crocodiles, and hyenas. Cheetahs are also capable of catching small warthogs. However, if a female warthog has any piglets to defend she will defend them very aggressively. Warthogs can inflict severe wounds on lions, sometimes ending with the lions bleeding to death. Warthogs have been observed allowing banded mongooses to groom them to remove ticks.
Warthogs are seasonal breeders. Rutting begins in the late rains or early dry season and birthing begins near the start of the following rain season. The mating system is described as "overlap promiscuity". It is due to the males having ranges overlapping several females and the daily behavior of the female being unpredictable. Boars employ two mating strategies during the rut. With the "staying tactic", a boar will stay and defend certain females or a resource valuable to them. In the "roaming tactic" boars seek out estrous sows and compete for them. Boars will wait for sows to emerge outside their burrows. A dominant boar will displace any other boar that also try to court his female. When a sow leaves her den, the boar will try to demonstrate his dominance and then follow her before copulation. For the "staying tactic", monogamy, female-defense polygyny, or resource-defense polygyny is promoted while the "roaming tactic" promotes scramble-competition polygyny.
The typical gestation period is 5 or 6 months. When they are about to give birth, sows temporarily leave their families to farrow in a separate hole. The litter is 2 to 8 piglets, although 2 to 4 is more typical. The sow will stay in the hole for several weeks nursing her piglets. Warthogs have been observed to engage in allosucking. Sow will nurse foster piglets if they lose their own litter, making them cooperative breeders. Allosucking does not seem to be case of mistaken identity or milk theft. This may be a sign of kin altruism. Piglets are grazing at about 2–3 weeks and are weaned by six months. Warthogs are considered a "follower" species as the young are kept nearby at all times and do not hide.
Category:Mammals of Angola Category:Mammals of Burkina Faso Category:Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Category:Fauna of East Africa Category:Mammals of Ethiopia Category:Mammals of Kenya Category:Mammals of Namibia Category:Mammals of the Republic of the Congo Category:Mammals of South Africa Category:Mammals of Sudan Category:Mammals of Tanzania Category:Mammals of Zambia Category:Fauna of West Africa Category:Mammals of Africa Category:Phacochoerus Category:Megafauna of Africa
af:Vlakvark am:ከርከሮ ar:خنزير وحشي أفريقى be:Афрыканскі бародавачнік be-x-old:Афрыканскі бародавачнік br:Fakoker bg:Брадавичеста свиня ca:Facoquer africà cs:Prase savanové da:Vortesvin de:Warzenschwein nv:Bisóodi bizęęs dį́įʼii es:Phacochoerus africanus eo:Verukapro ko:혹멧돼지 is:Vörtusvín it:Phacochoerus africanus he:חזיר יבלות מצוי lb:Waarzeschwäin lt:Afrikinis karpotis hu:Szavannai varacskosdisznó nl:Knobbelzwijn no:Vanlig vortesvin pl:Guziec pt:Phacochoerus africanus ru:Африканский бородавочник simple:Warthog fi:Pahkasika sv:Vårtsvin tr:Düğmeli domuz uk:Бородавочник африканський vi:Lợn nanh sừng châu Phi zh:疣豬This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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