African Warthog

Photo by Lauren Darcey/perlgurl.org. All rights reserved.

Altho we are a baboon-only sanctuary, we love all animals. One of my favorites is the African warthog, a widely distributed ungulate in Africa. They have large heads with 3 pairs of warts, small eyes that are set near the top of their head and long legs with calloused knees. Most kids know warthogs as Puumba from the Lion King.

They are prey animals for big cats. Their upper tusks are actually their canines and reach their full growth at sexual maturity. They graze on their knees!

The piglet in Laurie's photo above was 1 week old. When threatened, piglets run into their burrow head first with mom entering rear first so her tusks face out.

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