Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

Part II: Species Accounts

178

barrel-shaped with excessive fat rolls (Figure 18.2A; Te Wong

et al. 2005).

The pigs’ distinctive beard grows longer with age, and is

present on both sexes, although more pronounced on males.

The beard consists of coarse, wavy grey bristles protruding

from the mandibles and across the snout, sometimes even

obscuring their vision with whiskers up to 15 cm long. Both sexes

grow tusks reaching 25 cm long and males also grow two pairs

of facial tufts, but these are usually not visible beneath the beard

(Figure 18.2). In captivity they can live to over 13 years.

Piglets are brown with beige horizontal stripes before 3 months

of age. Younger beardless pigs (less than 3 months old) are diffi-

cult to distinguish from wild boars (S. scrofa, Figure 18.2D); the

distinguishing characteristics of bearded pigs are a longer snout

and longer legs (Figure 18.2C). Adults vary in coloration by sub-

population, while colour is also dependent on the colour of mud

in their last visited wallow (Figure 18.2C). In Sumatra, S. barbatus

oi’s coloration appears to range from beige to light brown in the

Barisan mountains of Kerinci Seblat National Park (Figure 18.2)

to darker brown or almost black in Jambi and Riau, in the eastern

side of the island, while S. barbatus barbatus in Borneo are vari-

ous shades of brown (seen in photos collected by M. Linkie).

Habitat

Bearded pigs inhabit tropical rainforests of all elevations and

forest types, and readily persist in disturbed or logged forests

(Meijaard & Sheil 2008). They undergo large nomadic move-

ments to exploit the different temporal fruiting cycles of vari-

ous forest types, even to seasonally accessible habitats like

swamps or swimming to near-shore islands (Blouch 1984).

While they are forest-dependent, bearded pigs are also known

to temporarily travel through or forage in agricultural areas

to consume fruits such as oil palm and durian (Banks 1949;

Linkie & Sadikin 2003; Luskin et al. 2014).

Competition between bearded pigs and wild boars may lead

to some niche partitioning where they overlap. Wild boars are

smaller and more sedentary than bearded pigs, and thus bet-

ter able to exploit more consistently productive edge habitats,

especially nearby oil palm plantations. It is not surprising that

wild boars now dominate Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia’s

disturbed and fragmented habitats, and this has potentially dis-

placed bearded pigs from these areas.

Activity Patterns

Bearded pigs are strongly diurnal in forests but may become

more nocturnal in mixed forest–agricultural areas if they take

to crop raiding (Linkie & Sadikin 2003; Luskin et al. 2014). In

Borneo, males exhibited a bimodal, crepuscular activity pattern

while activity peaked around midday for females (Ross et al.

2013). Bearded pigs seek the cool refuge of water and mud wal-

lows during the afternoon heat.

Feeding Ecology

Food Types

Bearded pigs are omnivores that feed on a large variety of

fruits, leaves, and roots, as well as fungi and rotting wood. They

actively consume a variety of soil invertebrates and grubs, as

well as other invertebrates, eggs, small vertebrates (e.g. lizards

and rodents) and even adult Borneo pythons (Python bre-

itensteini), and scavenge carrion (Beccari 1904; Briedermann

1965). They also follow troops of monkeys and primates to eat

fallen fruits.

Figure 18.3 Bearded pig (Sus barba-

tus oi) group in Singapore (photo by

R. Wirth). (A black and white version of

this figure will appear in some formats.

For the colour version, please refer to the

plate section.)

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