Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

Chapter 20: Javan warty pig Sus verrucosus (Boie, 1832) and Bawean warty pig Sus blouchi (Groves and Grubb, 2011)

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Habitat

Warty pigs seem to be habitat generalists, mostly being found in
lowland secondary vegetation in and near semi-open cultivated
areas, especially teak plantations Tectona grandis characterized
by a mixture of trees and grasslands (lalang Imperata cylindrica)
interspersed with bushes and heavily disturbed forests, and also
frequenting coastal mangrove and swamp forests (Blouch 1988;
Semiadi & Meijaard 2004, 2006; Meijaard 2014; Semiadi et al. 2016).
They are rare in primary forests and in areas with high human pop-
ulation that fragment otherwise suitable habitat (Blouch 1988).
Where these areas are connected to continuous suitable habitat,
just like European wild pigs, warty pigs do feed on crops on agri-
cultural land. Although some historical records suggest that Javan
warty pigs and European wild boar occur in the same major habitat
types and same locations (summarized in Meijaard 2014), system-
atic surveys that confirm preferred habitat and ecological separa-
tion between the possibly coexisting species are lacking.

In respect to Bawean warty pigs, the island of Bawean has

historically been covered with monsoon forests that likely pro-

vided the primary habitat of the species (MacKinnon 1997);

however, these have been mostly converted to agricultural land

except for the protected areas in the interiour of the island. In

the 1960s, the species seems to have been abundant but mainly

concentrated in the forests, the shrub wildernesses, and fallow

land (Hoogerwerf 1967). Blouch et al. (1983) report that Bawean

warty pigs are predominately found in teak plantations. In con-

trast, a recent study documents that Bawean warty pigs occur

in all habitat types within the protected areas, on the hills in the

centre of the protected forests and on their borders, but prefers

community forest at the forest edges over secondary forest,

shrubland-and-degraded forest and teak stands (Rademaker

et al. 2016). This may be related to the presence of easily acces-

sible, energy-rich foods in the community forests (Rademaker

et al. 2016). Direct observations of groups have mainly been

Table 20.1 Physical characteristics of Sus scrofa vittatus, S. verrucosus, and S. blouchi. Information taken from Groves 1981, National Research Council 1983,

Semiadi & Nugraha 2009, Meijaard et al. 2011, Rademaker & Rode-Margono 2015, Postolache et al. 2015, and unpublished data from the authors.

Character Sus scrofa vittatus Sus verrucosus Sus blouchi

Morphometric measurements

Body weight ♂ = 30–50 kg; ♀ = 20–40 kg ♀ = 45–60 kg; ♂ = 60–70 kg, used to

be > 90 kg but possibly large animals

disappeared

N/A

Snout to tail length 146.9 ± 4.82 cm (subadult male) 90–190 cm 110 cm in an adult male

Shoulder height 93.0 ± 4.55 cm (subadult male) 70–90 cm Females estimated 50 cm,

males 50–70 cm

Tail length 26.1 ± 3.11 cm (subadult male) 10.0–19.5 cm N/A

Ear length 17.3 ± 1.73 cm (subadult male) 10.5–13.2 cm N/A

Coloration

Fur colour Grey/black grizzled to dark, sometimes

reddish brown, with sometimes whitish

colour under cheeks. Belly hairs dark,

not contrasting with the hair above

Grey/black to reddish with whitish

colour under the cheek. Several

individuals can have blackish colour

on the back. No female has reddish

fur colour. Belly hairs yellowish

or orange in all sexes and ages,

contrasting with darker colour above

Same as S. verrucosus, belly hairs

white and contrasting with darker

colour above

Hair on crown and mane

hair on back

Black dark colour, slightly long around

the cheeks and whitish colour around

cheek

Lighter than S. scrofa reddish-orange

or even blonde

Darker colour than S. verrucosus,

reddish hue

White nose band Present Present Present and more conspicuous than

in S. s. vittatus and S. verrucosus

Sideburns close to warts Not present Dark/black beard of elongated hairs

on cheeks

Beard whitish and longer than in

S. verrucosus, forms a continuous band

from ear to ear together with nose band

Coloration of piglets Very conspicuous longitudinally striping,

black–brown and whitish to fawn

Striping faint, almost not visible Same as S. verrucosus

Other characteristics

Warts Absent Present Present

Canines Males: inferior surface of lower

canine smaller or equal to posterior

surface; females: canines larger than

in S. verrucosus

Males: inferior surface of lower canine

larger than posterior surface; female:

canines smaller than in S. scrofa

N/A

Carpal glands 5–7 per fore leg 4 per fore leg 3 per fore leg

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