Part II: Species Accounts90
in central Kenya (L. Borgesio, personal communication), Goda
Mountains in Djibouti (Künzel et al. 2004), Bale Mountains in
south-central Ethiopia (Yalden et al. 1996; Deribe et al. 2008),
and in Senegal (Guiraud 1948), but are likely reliant on open
areas of short grass (glades) within or on the edges of these
otherwise well-wooded sites. They generally avoid steep ground.
They are at their highest abundance where water for drink-
ing is always available, but are present at low density where
water is not available for several months; for example, Danakil
Desert in north-east Ethiopia/south-east Eritrea (De Jong et al.,
in preparation), Sibiloi National Park and vicinity in north-west
Kenya (De Jong & Butynski 2014), Kalahari Desert in southern
Africa, and Umfolozi Game Reserve, central east South Africa
(White & Cameron 2009). They dig for water, and take water
from holes dug by other species (Stommel et al. 2016).
The mean annual rainfall over the geographic range is about
5 cm (Woqooyi Galbeed Province, north-west Somalia) to about
300 cm (Boké Region, Guinea). The highest mean annual rain-
fall in the Horn of Africa is about 170 cm (Guas Ngishu Plateau,
south-west Kenya).
They occur from sea level to 3500 m a.s.l. (Mount Gaysay,
Bale Mountains, south-central Ethiopian; Yalden et al. 1996;
Deribe et al. 2008). The altitude record in Sierra Leone is 2000 m
a.s.l. (Loma Mountains; Grubb et al. 1998). The altitudinal range
in Kenya is from sea level to at least 2300 m a.s.l. in Aberdares
(Kingdon 1979) and 2385 m a.s.l. in Mau Forest (d’Huart &
Grubb 2001). They inhabit a much wider range of altitude and
rainfall than P. aethiopicus, including more arid conditions
(De Jong et al., in preparation; Chapter 10 of this book).
Sympatric with P. aethiopicus at several sites in Kenya and
probably also at sites in Ethiopia and Somalia (De Jong et al.
2016a, b, in preparation; Chapter 10 of this book). There is no
convincing evidence for P. a f r i c a n u s × P. aethiopicus hybrids
(see Chapter 10 of this book). Narrowly sympatric with bush-
pig Potamochoerus larvatus and giant forest hog Hylochoerus
meinertzhageni.Movements and Home Range
Phacochoerus africanus is non-migratory and non-territorial.
The home ranges of matriarchal sounders [i.e. adult female(s)
with offspring] overlap, and those of adult males overlap with
several matriarchal sounders. Nonetheless, there is little contact
among sounders. Home range size is 0.2–6.0 km^2 , but typically
< 3 km^2. See table 2 at http://www.wildsolutions.nl/phacochoerus/.
Generally, burrows are the core of the home range. The adult
female home range is reduced for about 6 weeks after giv-
ing birth (= farrowing). As expected, home range is generally
smaller in favourable habitats. Home range size is not a function
of sounder size. Use of the home range shifts to take advantage of
food and/or water sources; for example, a flush of grass after fire
in the dry season. Core areas of relatively high use can change
seasonally and home range boundaries may be temporarily
extended due to changes in the availability of food and/or water
(Shortridge 1934; Bradley 1968; Cumming 1975; Mason 1982;
Rodgers 1984; Somers et al. 1994).
For the day range of sounders (1.6–9.6 km), see table 2 at
http://www.wildsolutions.nl/phacochoerus/. The female day range istemporarily reduced after farrowing. They frequently change
foraging routes and resting sites (Clough & Hassam 1970;
Somers et al. 1994).
When ample food and water are available, P. a f r i c a n u s
typically remains in one area for long periods or for life. Of 42
P. a f r i c a n u s captured and released in north-west Zimbabwe, all but
five recaptured <1 km of initial capture site 0.5–57 months later
(mean distance from initial capture site = 0.5 km; mean interval
23 months, n = 61 recaptures). The farthest was temporary move-
ment of 2.4 km by a matriarchal sounder. Also, however, there
were six long-distance movements, not all of them temporary:
6 km in 1 day by an adult female; 4.5 km and 5 km in <1 month by
two sounders; 15 km in <14 months by a yearling female; 16 km
in <1 year by a yearling male, and 16 km in <2 months by an adult
male (Cumming 1975). In central east South Africa, Somers et al.
(1994) report movement to at least 3 km.Activity Patterns
Phacochoerus africanus is crepuscular, active during the cool-
est diurnal hours (i.e. about 4–5 hours after dawn and about
3–4 hours before dusk), resting during the 4–5 hottest hours
(c.11:00–16:00 h). Generally, of the diurnal hours spent out of the
burrow, 5–7 hours are feeding, 1–2 hours are walking, 2–3 hours
are resting, and <1 hour is other activities (e.g. wallowing,
drinking, digging, suckling, nursing, playing, allogrooming).
Nocturnal hours are typically spent in the burrow. The activ-
ity pattern is similar in equatorial Africa and southern Africa
(Bradley 1968; Clough & Hassam 1970; Cumming 1975; Somers
1997; Deribe et al. 2008; Kumssa & Bekele 2013).
Basic activities are strongly associated with changes in daily
and seasonal temperature; resting, drinking, wallowing, and
time out of burrow increase, and feeding and walking decrease, as
temperature rises. They rest in the shade when hot, and in the sun
when cool (Cumming 1975; Somers 1997; Deribe et al. 2008). At
two sites in south Ethiopia, time resting decreased during the dry
season, while time feeding and time out of the burrow increased.
These changes were associated with less food during the dry sea-
son (Deribe et al. 2008; Kumssa & Bekele 2013). Usually, they do
not emerge from the burrow on rainy and/or cold mornings, and
move into the burrow at the onset of rain (Bradley 1968; Clough
& Hassam 1970; Cumming 1975; Somers 1997).
They typically spend nights in the burrow, entering about
sunset and emerging about sunrise, and following annual change
of sunset and sunrise (Cumming 1975; Vercammen & Mason
1993; Somers 1997). However, they are not a ‘strictly diurnal’
species, as there are records of nocturnal activity at several
sites across the range (Figure 9.3; Shortridge 1934; Bigourdan
1948; Guiraud 1948; Cumming 1975; Kingdon 1979; De Jong &
Butynski 2012, 2014). These records suggest that nocturnal activ-
ity is most likely on moonlit nights between dusk and 23:00 h,
and during the hour before dawn. During c.70,000 nocturnal
camera trap-hours in central Kenya (1900–2300 m a.s.l.), where
it is dark between 19:00 and 06:00 h, only two records were
obtained for P. a f r i c a n u s; lone adult males at 19:28 h and 05:30 h
(T. Butynski and Y. de Jong, personal observation). Being active
at night enables P. a f r i c a n u s to avoid the hottest hours, as well as
humans and other predators that hunt during the day..01112:33:32