Although warthogs dig quite well, using snout as shovel, most holes they use have been excavated by aardvarks. Whether warthogs live in areas uninhabited by aardvarks is an open question. They drink and in hot, dry weather use wallows daily. Boars are somewhat less diurnal, often remain active for an hour or so after dark, later on moonlit nights. They stay up late during rut to sniff out burrows occupied by sows in heat, returning to waylay them as they emerge next morning.
Associated mothers suckle one another's young-usually a reliable sign of kinship.
Males also remain in their natal home range. After parting from females they associate with their brothers or unrelated males until mature at 4 years. Adults only join female groups when a sow is in heat. They lie down and get up like ruminants, not swine, kneeling on forelegs in lying and raising the hindquarters first in rising. Feeding warthogs routinely graze and root while resting on their callused knees.