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Part II: Species Accountsby prolonged inundation, whereas those in well-drained areas
are brought under periodic burning. However, as the remain-
ing grasslands include various commercially important thatch
grasses, most are subject to annual harvesting and virtually all
of them are subject to wide-scale annual burning, even in pro-
tected areas.
Most of this burning is conducted at the beginning of the dry
season (i.e. in December, January, or early February) in order to
preclude the possibility of later uncontrolled ‘hot’ burns, which
are even more destructive. Early burning is often incomplete,
leaving patches of grass, a desirable life-supporting feature.
Sometimes, the grass is burnt twice, causing extensive damage.
Regularly burnt grasslands are characterized by the relatively
uniform growth of plants that thrive under the burning regime.
Hence, the habitat displays a chronic reduction in species diver-
sity and quality, adversely affecting the carrying capacity of the
habitat for dependent species. Frequent burning also destroys
the surface litter in which the hogs forage, along with the ground
fauna (e.g. insects, annelids) that are an important part of the
diet of pygmy hogs as well as many other animals and birds. It
also exposes the surface substrate, which becomes hard and des-
iccated prior to the rains, making rooting more difficult and less
profitable.Movements and Home Range
Preliminary results of radio telemetry studies in the wild indi-
cate that the each social group usually moves in an area up to
around 150 m radius of an active nest. The group remains in an
area for about 4–6 weeks, abandons the old nest and moves to
an adjacent site where a new nest is built. This behaviour may
have evolved in the species to prevent over-use of the resourcesof any particular area. Sometimes the nest site is also moved fol-
lowing any disturbance which can even be increased activity of
wild elephants.Activity Pattern
Pygmy hogs are essentially diurnal animals and rarely emerge
in the dark. Observations in captivity and while monitoring
released animals in the wild indicate that they usually begin
activity a little after dawn and remain active until dusk, with
a break during the hottest parts of the day when they remain
hidden in the nest or in grass. However, on cooler and overcast
days they often remain active throughout the day and on hot
days they may begin a little before dawn and remain active well
after dusk. They are usually not active during rain and retreat to
their nest. They may, however, remain in the open in light driz-
zle. Captive animals were seen foraging in the dark if termites,
their favourite food, begin to emerge or fly. While monitoring
released animals in the wild, the camera traps at the baiting sta-
tions have very rarely captured an active hog at night, those too
only single individuals.Feeding Ecology
As most pigs, the pygmy hogs are omnivorous and eat a wide
range of food, including roots and tubers, fruits and seeds, ten-
der shoots and leaves, insects, earthworms, the eggs of some
ground-nesting birds, and other small vertebrates. They forage
for about six to eight hours every day actively searching for food.
While foraging they root in the ground to dig and turn over litter
and topsoil leaving shallow (5–15 cm deep) but distinctive for-
age marks with the imprints of their snout or front feet. They are
partial to termites and their footprints are often found aroundFigure 22.4 Pygmy hog at Basistha
breeding centre (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.).02412:46:11