Part II: Species Accounts88
Figure 9.2 Skull of a common warthog Phacochoerus africanus at the Natural
History Museum (Museo Civico di Zoologia) in Rome, Italy. Note the short
braincase, the long and flat forehead and rostrum, and the small orbits which
are set wide and high on the skull. The left lower incisors are missing on this
specimen. Photograph by Yvonne de Jong and Tom Butynski.>22 cm; Bigourdan 1948; Guiraud 1948; Ewer 1958; Cumming
1975; Cooke & Wilkinson 1978; Kingdon 1979; Mason 1984;
Grubb 1993, 2013; Skinner & Chimimba 2005; Grubb & d’Huart
2013; Naish 2015; Souron, 2015, 2016).
Drawings and/or photographs of the skull are presented in
Guiraud (1948), Ewer (1958), Cooke and Wilkinson (1978),
Kingdon (1979), Mason (1984), d’Huart and Grubb (2005),
Skinner & Chimimba (2005), Cumming (2013), Naish
(2015), and Souron (2015, 2016).
Dental formula is highly variable, particularly among adults
(Bigourdan 1948; Guiraud 1948; Child et al. 1965; Spinage &
Jolly 1974; Mason 1984). Deciduous canines shed at about
6 months (Roth 1965).
The typical deciduous dental formula: i: 1/2–3; c: 1/1; pm:
3/2 (×2) = 20–2 (Mason 1984).
The typical permanent dental formula: I: 1/2–3; C: 1/1; PM:
2/1; M: 3/3 (×2) = 28–30 (Mason 1984).
The head is large, about 16 per cent of the body weight
(Bigourdan 1948). The ear is prominent, leaf-shaped, with
erect, slightly rounded tip. Broad snout and rhinarium (= ‘snout
disc’) with hard upper edge adapted to grazing and rooting in
hard, dry soil (Cumming 1975; Rodgers 1984). Both sexes have
preorbital and supraoral (= upper lip = tusk) dermal secretory
glands (Estes et al. 1982). Adults have three pairs of facial warts
(infraorbital, supraoral, mandibular), although the supraoral
warts of the adult female are hardly noticeable, appearing as
thick dermal pads. The infraorbital wart is cone-shaped, andrises 10–15 cm from the skin in the adult male and to 2–3 cm
in the adult female. There is a narrow rim of short off-white bris-
tles (‘side whiskers’), most prominent in the young, which cover
the mandibular wart along the lower jaw line. See Chapter 10 of
this book for more information on facial warts in Phacochoerus.
Sexual dimorphism in size of warts and tusks signifies their roles
in displays and inter-male rivalry (Cumming 1975, 2013).
The body is robust, barrel-shaped, with a short, thick, neck.
Nape, withers, and back with a mane of long black, brown, or
yellowish bristles that can be raised. Skin is dark grey, sparsely
covered with coarse, c.3 cm long bristles, but typically takes on
the colour of the soil of the wallows or burrows. Tail is medium-
length, slender with a flattened end carrying a tuft of bristles;
it is held vertically when trotting or running. Legs are long for
a suid. Carpal joint (= wrist = ‘knee’) callosities on forelegs.
Adult females with four nipples, one pair inguinal and one
pair abdominal (Kingdon 1979; Skinner & Chimimba 2005;
Cumming 2013). See De Jong and Butynski (2016) for a large
number of photographs of P. a f r i c a n u s and P. aethiopicus.
Chromosome number: 2n = 34 (Bosma 1978). Consists of 14
pairs of (sub)metacentric autosomes and two pairs of acrocen-
tric autosomes (Musilova et al. 2010).
Skull measurements are presented in Lönnberg (1909),
Bigourdan (1948), Guiraud (1948), and Hollister (1924).
Based on the body measurement data in Table 9.1, the mean
body mass of adult males is about 79 kg (n = 207) and of adult
females is about 57 kg (n = 254). Body mass and head + body
length of the adult female is about 72% and 90%, respectively,
those of adult male. These limited data suggest P. a. africanus
(West Africa) and P. a. massaicus (East Africa) are slightly larger
than P. a. sundevallii (southern Africa).
There is no size difference between females and males at
birth. Sexual dimorphism appears at 12–18 months (Roth
1965). The mean shoulder height of the female at 12 months is
82 per cent, and at 24 months 95 per cent, that of the fully mature
female (Mason 1985).
Growth rates and criteria for ageing P. a f r i c a n u s to 4 years of
age are presented by Bigourdan (1948), Guiraud (1948), Child
et al. (1965), Roth (1965), Bradley (1972), Spinage and Jolly
(1974), Cumming (1975), and Mason (1984).Habitat
Phacochoerus africanus uses a wide range of habitats, but is
typically a species of open country: grasslands, open bush-
lands and woodlands, floodplains, vleis, and pans (Shortridge
1934; Lamprey 1963; Grubb et al. 1998; Skinner & Chimimba
2005; White 2010; Swanepoel et al. 2016). Able to live in drier
areas than other suids. Most abundant on alluvial soil in lightly
wooded vegetation mosaics that include drainage lines and
areas of nutrient-rich short grasses and rhizomes, and where
water is always available (Field 1970; Smithers 1971; Cumming
1975; Kingdon 1979; Rodgers 1984). During dry periods, when
grass may be tall and rank, P. a f r i c a n u s favours burnt areas where
there is a fresh flush of grass. They enter riverine forest to reach
water. Vegetation along seasonal rivers provides corridors into
arid regions (De Jong & Butynski 2014). They occupy forests, at
least part of the time, at some sites, including Mathews Range.01112:33:32