📷 Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0
📷 Ikiwaner
📷 Diego Delso
IUCN: Least Concern
Warthog
Phacochoerus africanus
KingdomAnimalia›PhylumChordata›ClassMammalia›OrderArtiodactyla›FamilySuidae›GenusPhacochoerus
About
Warthogs graze with a strange posture: front legs folded back at the wrist, kneeling on thick calloused pads while their tusks and lips work the grass. Curved upper tusks, worn smooth by years of digging and sparring, give the species its warlike look.
Fierce though they appear, warthogs would rather bolt backwards into a burrow than fight, tail rigid like an antenna. They are the only pigs that have adapted to life in the dry African savanna, surviving months without surface water in dry riverbed thickets.
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Open savanna, grassland, and dry woodland; sleeps in old aardvark burrows
🍃Diet Grasses, roots, bulbs, and fallen fruit
📏Size & Weight Head-body 90–150 cm; shoulder height 60–85 cm
•Weight 45–150 kg (males larger)
⏳Lifespan 8–15 years wild; up to 20 in care
🗺Range Sub-Saharan Africa
Mammal
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Open savanna, grassland, and dry woodland; sleeps in old aardvark burrows
🍃Diet Grasses, roots, bulbs, and fallen fruit
📏Size & Weight Head-body 90–150 cm; shoulder height 60–85 cm
•Weight 45–150 kg (males larger)
⏳Lifespan 8–15 years wild; up to 20 in care
🗺Range Sub-Saharan Africa
Photo Credits
#1Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0
#2Ikiwaner · GFDL 1.2
#3Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
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