If fascinating intelligence, formidable strength, speed and agility with effortless grace help form a personal definition of beauty, then Phacochoeris aethiopicus will charm you, win you, will top the list of worldly beauties. Up thin legs that simply don't seem capable of supporting a flea, balances up to 270 pounds of long, thick, muscular body. But it's the face that gets you.
Thick calluses protect the joints when kneeling down to dig and dine.
I first witnessed this nimble power shortly after our first Warthog, little Njiri, arrived. No more than 100 pounds and bit over 3 feet long, this one year old girl, a mite nervous and not yet used to her new home, startled and jumped straight up from a standstill, no crouching or bunching, just standing, to a height of 8 feet. I was speechless. Almost 5 feet long and 3 feet tall, tipping the scales at 264 pounds, he is a charming and gregarious fellow. He would often lie prone in front of me, a natural behavior for his kind in soliciting grooming by another.