Bush pigs
| Bush pigs | ||||||||||||
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Brush ear pig ( Potamochoerus porcus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Potamochoerus | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1854 |
The bush pigs ( Potamochoerus ) are a genus of mammals living in Africa from the family of real pigs (Suidae). A distinction is made between two types, the
- Bush pig ( Potamochoerus larvatus ) and the
- Brush-eared pig or river pig ( Potamochoerus porcus ).
These animals reach head body lengths of 100 to 150 centimeters and a weight of 45 to 130 kilograms. While the brush-eared pig is strikingly colored with its reddish fur, white stripes on the back and tufts of ears, the bush pig is more shaggy and inconspicuous, but has a characteristic mane along the neck and back.
Brush-eared pigs occur in western and central Africa and bush pigs in eastern and southern Africa. Both species live in family groups and, like most pigs, are omnivorous.
After nearly twenty species of bush pigs had been described in the 19th century, in the 20th century it was concluded that they were subspecies or just regional variants of the same species. All bush, river and brush ear pigs were now united in the species Potamochoerus porcus . In the 1990s, new research gave rise to the assumption that there were in fact two species. Accordingly, today a distinction is made between the two types mentioned above.
For more details see under the two articles.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999. ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
