Desert warthog
| Desert warthog | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Desert warthog ( Phacochoerus aethiopicus ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phacochoerus aethiopicus | ||||||||||||
| ( Pallas , 1766) |
The desert warthog ( Phacochoerus aethiopicus ) is a species of mammal from the family of real pigs (Suidae). It is closely related to the (actual) warthog and is sometimes managed in the same way.
Desert warthogs, like the actual warthogs, are characterized by their bizarre-looking head. Like them, they have six warts in pairs on their heads, which are particularly pronounced in males. The upper canines are greatly elongated and curved, these tusks are up to 60 centimeters long, the lower canines are smaller but sharper. They differ from the actual warthogs in the details of the structure of their skull and teeth, and their bodies are also somewhat smaller. Little is known about the way of life of the desert warthogs, presumably it corresponds to that of the actual warthogs.
There were two populations in separate ranges, one in southern and one in eastern Africa:
The southern subspecies ( Phacochoerus aethiopicus aethiopicus ) is extinct. It was restricted to South Africa and only occurred in the Cape Province and the Free State Province . The populations were severely decimated by intensive hunting in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the remaining animals were taken away by the outbreak of rinderpest around 1900.
The northern subspecies ( Phacochoerus aethiopicus delamerei ) is native to southeastern Ethiopia , northeastern Kenya and Somalia . This subspecies is listed as not endangered by the IUCN ( least concern ).
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999. ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
- DE Wilson & DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4
Web links
- Phacochoerus aethiopicus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2013. Posted by: JP d'Huart, TM Butynski, Y. De Jong, 2011. Accessed July 28, 2013.