Warthog

## Brains before beauty

Warthogs may not be the most beautiful or graceful creatures in the Animal Kingdom, but they are remarkable for their strength, intelligence, and flexibility! Unlike many of their African counterparts, they are not endangered because they are so skilled at adapting to new threats. For example, most warthogs like to forage during the light of the morning and early evening. But if they live in an area where they are hunted by people, they switch to foraging at night.

## Home sweet aardvark home

Warthogs are not very picky about their homes, either. Instead of digging their own burrows, they find abandoned aardvark holes or natural burrows for homes to raise their young, sleep, and hide from predators. They usually back into their burrows, so they can use their sharp tusks to scare off any animal that bothers them. The burrows also protect them from temperature extremes. Underground, the temperature is always comfortable, even if aboveground it’s extremely hot at high noon or freezing in the middle of the night.

## Flight, flee, or squeal

Warthogs have longer legs than most other kinds of swine, so they can run away from potential predators, reaching speeds of up to 34 miles per hour (55 kilometers per hour). Lions, cheetahs, leopards, painted dogs, hyenas, and eagles all like to snack on a warthog when they get a chance. When humans get out of bed, they often stumble along groggily, rubbing their eyes to wake up. Warthogs don’t have the luxury of waking up slowly. When they leave their burrow, they must dash out at top speed in case any predators are lying in wait for them!

But it’s not easy to catch them. In addition to being good at dodging and running, warthogs are not afraid to fight. They use their sharp lower canine teeth (which look like straight tusks) as weapons, while squealing at the top of their lungs! When they move slowly, their tail hangs down, but when they run, their tail sticks up with the bushy tip hanging down. This may serve as a warning to other warthogs if danger is near.

## Gobbling up the goodies

Like most swine, warthogs are not picky eaters. They’ll gobble up grass, roots, berries, tree bark, and even dead animals!

As you might suspect when you look at their big snout, warthogs are good sniffers, so it’s easy for them to smell things underground that they might want to root for. They often kneel down on their front legs and use their muscular snout to dig up dinner. They even shuffle along in the kneeling position if there are plenty of tasty things in the area.

At the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the warthogs are fed high-fiber pellets, Bermuda grass, and root vegetables.

## Why the warts?

Males, called boars, have the most obvious “warts.” At mating time, the reason for these thick skin growths becomes obvious. The boars push and ram each other with their head and their blunt upper tusks to see which is the most powerful. Fortunately, their warts act as pads to cushion the blows, so they rarely injure each other. Eventually, one boar gives up, and the other boar gets to mate with the females, called sows. Then the boars go back to the solitary life until the next mating season.

Although the boars are mature by 20 months, they usually don't get to mate until they’re about 4 years old. At that point, they’re strong and experienced enough to win one of the mating battles.

## Warthog society

Warthog sows are much more social than the boars. They stay in groups of up to 40 together with their young, called piglets. The sows communicate with all sorts of grunts, chirrups, growls, snorts, and squeals, which can be greetings, threats, and warnings, among other things. They also like to rest close together and even groom each other.