Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

Part I: Evolution, Taxonomy, and Domestication

8

the crowns. Externally, H. meinertzhageni has a much thicker,

blackish coat compared to the thinner, greyish coat of the west-

ern taxa (Meijaard & Groves in preparation).

Hylochoerus rimator Thomas, 1906. From the Nigeria–

Cameroon border east to the Ituri Forest and neighbouring

areas of the southern South Sudan. Much smaller (skull length of

males 341–388 mm, of females 334–377 mm), less flaring tusks,

and less specialized cheekteeth. Animals in the Ituri Forest may

include some hybrids with the big eastern species.

Hylochoerus ivoriensis Bouet & Neuville, 1930. West Africa,

from Liberia at least to Ghana. Still smaller (skull length of males

307–355 mm, of females 333–372 mm), and less sexual dimor-

phism, with narrower skull and short palate.

Potamochoerus Gray, 1852

These are smaller, short-legged pigs with enormous leaf-shaped

ears with long, drooping, tasselled tips. The facial skeleton is

elongated with a deep longitudinal concavity from just in front

of the eyes to the end of the rostrum, for large muscles which

give the snout extra mobility; the dorsum of the facial skeleton

is flattened. The canine system resembles that in Hylochoerus

and Sus; males have a large rectangular canine apophysis, sup-

porting a swollen pouch, apparently glandular. Cheekteeth are

brachyodont. There is a large gland on the chin. Sexual dimor-

phism is slight. On this genus see Leslie and Huffman (2013).

Potamochoerus porcus (Linnaeus, 1758). Red river hog. Red

pelage, very short and dense, with thin white dorsal crest and

black limbs; black forehead with conspicuous white eye-rings

and long whitish cheek-whiskers; the muzzle is grey. The backs

of the ears are black, the rims white. From the rainforest zone of

Africa, from Sierra Leone via the Congo to Burundi.

Potamochoerus larvatus (F. Cuvier, 1822). Bushpig. Pelage

is sparser but shaggy, its colour very variable (off-white to red-

dish, dark brown or nearly black), the head contrasting with

the body (usually black or white, sometimes with a black band

around the snout) but lacking the red river hog’s ‘mask’. The ears

are less elongated and less tasselled than in the red river hog.

From the bush country of eastern and southern Africa, north

into Ethiopia; also Madagascar, where probably introduced.

Southern African animals are larger on average than those from

East Africa, and tend to have a darker grey face with a black

snout band; these populations, which are presently classed as

distinct subspecies, need to be studied further.

Porcula Hodgson, 1847

The pygmy hog. A tiny pig weighing about 7–9 kg and 23–31 cm

in shoulder height in males, 20–22 cm in females (Figure 1.5).

Only three pairs of mammae; tail rudimentary; snout very

short, with no warts or swellings externally, and skull short and

high-crowned, with very shallow preorbital concavity. Body is

wedge-shaped, the rump noticeably higher than the withers.

Medial false hoofs very short. There is only one extant species:

Porcula salvania (Hodgson, 1847). Skull length of adult

male 177–181 mm, of adult female 145–164 mm. Bristly dark-

brownish pelage, the hairs with a single light band, with the

black skin showing through; underside pale. Some elongation

of the hairs on the crown, but no mane. Ears large and rounded;

tail very short. The species is Critically Endangered, found only

in the grasslands of Assam (India), but formerly extending to

Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan.

Sus Linnaeus, 1758

‘Pigs’ – wild pigs (wild boar) and domestic pigs. The canine

system is the typical one of curly upper tusks and straighter

lower slashing ones in the male, much smaller in the female.

The male has large canine apophyses, usually with a rounded

dorsal margin; the preorbital fossa is moderate to large in size.

Third molars are elongated with usually three lobes and multiple

accessory cusps. Pelage is sparse and bristly, usually black.

The number of species is uncertain. The species can be infor-

mally divided into two groups: the ‘scrofic’ group, in which the

inferior surface of the male’s lower canine is narrower than the

posterior surface; and the ‘verrucose’ group, in which the infe-

rior surface is at least equal in width to the posterior, usually

noticeably broader. An index of the inferior surface as a percent-

age of the posterior surface is 61.5–109.1 in the scrofic group,

105.6–161.9 in the verrucose group, except for Sus philippen-

sis in which it is 142.1–177.8 (Groves 1981). These two groups

Figure 1.4 Giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni), Queen Elizabeth

National Park, Uganda. Photo by Hans Klingel.

Figure 1.5 Pygmy hog (Porcula salvania), Potasali in Assam, India: Photo by

Roland Wirth.

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