Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

Introduction

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in 2001. It only occurs on Mindoro Island, but few have seen let

alone studied it. To the best of our knowledge it is endangered

by the widespread destruction of former forest habitats and the

genetic contamination due to hybridization with free-ranging

domestic pigs, but a lot more study is needed to understand

the threats and ecological needs of the species (Chapter 16 in

this book).

While Island South East Asia is one of the hotspots for pig

diversity, Africa has its own fair share of genera and species of

pigs and South America its peccaries. One subspecies of desert

warthog, the Cape warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethi-

opicus) is already extinct, with the remainder of the species now

being restricted to Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Although

currently listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List, this

warthog is affected by human-caused habitat degradation, loss

and fragmentation, hunting, and competition with livestock

for water and food (see De Jong and Butynski, Chapter 10 in

this book). In South America, the Chacoan peccary, which

occurs in a restricted range in Argentina and Paraguay, has

been reduced by 40 per cent in the last decades. This peccary

suffers mainly from habitat loss and over-hunting, and is one

of the key concerns of the IUCN Peccary Specialist Group (see

Chapter 23).

With that in mind, it is clear that not all is positive in pig

and peccary land, and there is an urgent need to start sorting

out conservation challenges. We hope that through this volume

we can raise the profile of wild pigs and peccaries which are too

often overlooked by the scientific community. We also hope that

this work can stimulate further research. And finally, we hope

that we have convinced you, the reader, what amazing species

pigs and peccaries are, and that you now go out of your way to

help protect them.

References

Groves, C. P. & Grubb, P. (2011). Ungulate taxonomy. Baltimore, MD:

Johns Hopkins University Press.

Rademaker, M., Rode-Margono, J. & Tritto, A. (2016). Behaviour of

wild-caught and captive-born Javan Warty Pigs (Sus verrucosus)

and implications for reintroduction. Suiform Soundings 14(1):

5–13.

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