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biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Suiformes (pigs)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Synapsida (mammal-like reptiles) > Therapsida > Theriodontia >  Cynodontia > Mammalia (mammals) > Placentalia (placental mammals) > Laurasiatheria > Ferungulata > Cetartiodactyla (even-toed ungulates and cetaceans)

One family: Suidae.

Species indigenous to southern Africa

Subfamily: Suinae

 
 

Potamochoerus larvatus (Bushpig)

A hairy African pig that inhabits dense vegetation and is active mainly at night. Although widespread, it is rarely seen in the wild and seldom photographed. They eat mainly bulbs, tubers and rhizomes and will also eat insect pupae, earthworms and other animal matter when it is available. They occur in groups (sounders) of 4-10 animals made up of a dominant boar and sow together with subadult sows and young.

Subfamily: Phacochoerinae

 
 

Phacochoerus africanus (Common warthog)

Warthogs are a common site in African savannas in protected areas where they have not been exterminated by people. Groups (sounders) consist either of sows and their piglets or bachelor groups. Warthogs are diurnal and graze mainly on short grass but will also eat sedges, herbs, leaves from shrubs and wild fruits. They also dig up and eat succulent rhizomes. They use burrows as dens.