WARTHOG

The common warthog is a wild member of the pig family found in grassland, savanna, and woodland in sub-Saharan Africa. In the past, it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P. aethiopicus, but today that scientific name is restricted to the desert warthog of northern Kenya, Somalia, and eastern Ethiopia. Warthogs may appear to be ferocious little animals, and contrary to Pumba the warthog eating worms in the Lion King, they are not carnivores. Warthogs are grazers, eating grasses, plants, berries and bark. They also use their snouts to dig up roots and bulbs. ts habits are equally odd: grazing on bended forelegs; entering its burrow backwards; trotting along with tail held erect, like a radio antenna. An omnivore, it uses its rubbery snout to grub up roots and tubers. It often wallows in mud to help regulate its temperature and rid parasites from its largely naked skin. The species familiar across sub-Saharan Africa is the common warthog. A separate species, the desert warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus), occurs in northern Kenya and the Horn of Africa. Although they reproduce at a high rate, the populations seem to be in a general decline.