Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

Part II: Species Accounts

118

& Kingdon 2013) and females become particularly defensive

(Klingel & Klingel 2004).

Reyna-Hurtado (2015) collected more than 500 location

points that were used to estimate groups’ home range. Home

range was estimated at 10.7 km^2 (fixed kernel at 95 per cent of

observations) and 8.8 km^2 using the Minimum Convex Polygon

method (100 per cent observations) with core areas used of 2.7

km^2 (fixed kernel at 50 per cent of observations). The two forest

hog groups studied seemed to be territorial and did not share

space. Their territories seemed to be fixed and animals visited

all corners of the territory in approximately one-month cycles.

Activity Patterns

The forest hog is mainly a diurnal species that spends time feed-

ing, resting and travelling mostly during the day, but can perform

some activities at night when food is scarce. d’Huart (1978) found

the species to spend on average 25 per cent of its time moving and

foraging in savannas, 21 per cent moving, foraging and wallowing

in thickets or forested areas, and 54 per cent resting in sleeping

sites in the same habitat in the Virunga NP, DR Congo. In Queen

Elizabeth NP, Uganda, Klingel and Klingel (1999) found that hogs

feed during the day and sleep at night during the wet season, but

also feed at night during the dry season. It was found that forest

hogs were active during the day in the lowland forest of Odzala

NP, Republic of Congo, where they spend 44 per cent of their time

feeding, 14 per cent moving, and 31 per cent resting (F. Maggliocca,

personal communication in d’Huart & Kingdon 2013).

In the Aberdare NP, Kenya, Kingdon (1979) found daylight

foraging very common during the wet season (April–November)

and minimal during the hot season (December–March). In

Kibale NP, Uganda, forest hog forage early in the morning (7:00

to 10:00) and in the afternoon (15:00 to 18:00) with sleeping

periods of several hours during the hottest hours of the day

(10:00 to 15:00) and an almost daily visit to a pond or wallow-

ing point in the evening (18:00 to 20:00) (Figure 11.4; Reyna-

Hurtado 2015). Although rarely observed, they are strong

swimmers like many other wild pigs as confirmed by a recent

observation in the Mara National Reserve, Kenya (Figure 11.5;

M. Stanley Price, personal communication).

Feeding Ecology

The forest hog is mostly a herbivore species that feeds mainly on

grasses and herbaceous species. Observations of grazing indi-

viduals in Virunga NP, DR Congo, showed that five major species

of grasses (Cynodon dactylon, Sporolobus pyramidalis, Panicum

repens, Cenchrus ciliaris, and Chloris gayana) were selected on a

yearly average over 94 per cent of grazing time (d’Huart 1978).

On Mweya Peninsula, Queen Elizabeth NP, Uganda, this species

feeds on 46 species of plants (Klingel & Klingel 2004), while in

the savanna environment of the same park more than 100 spe-

cies of plants were selected (Viehl 2003).

A study on the isotopic composition of plants used in their

diet showed that the species feed on herbs during most of the

year, but the consumption of grasses rose by up to 25 per cent in

the wet season when the energetic content of grasses is highest

(Cerling & Viehl 2004). However, forest hogs are by no means

pure grazers. In Kibale NP, Uganda, it was found that they feed

on at least 32 species of plants with 94 per cent of these being

herbaceous species. Preferred food species observed were

Mimulopsis solmsii, Ipomea spp., and Piper umbrellatea. These

plants are very abundant in the dense bushes of the clearings

surrounded by forest (Reyna-Hurtado 2015).

In the dense forest of Okapi Faunal Reserve, Democratic

Republic of Congo, they feed on mast seed of monodominant

Figure 11.4 Family group of forest

hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni) in

Kibale National Park, Uganda (photo by

Rafael Reyna).

.013

12:33:38

http://www.ebook3000.com