Giant forest hog

Giant forest hog
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Suidae
Genus:	Hylochoerus Thomas, 1904
Species:	H. meinertzhageni
Binomial name
Hylochoerus meinertzhageni Thomas, 1904

The Giant Forest Hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni - the only member of its genus), is native to the jungles of Africa and the largest wild member of the pig family (Suidae).

Males can reach as much as 2 metres in length and 1.1 metres high at the shoulder and have been known to weigh as much as 600 pounds (273 kg)^{[citation needed]}. Unlike most species of wild suid, the giant forest hog has extensive hairs on its body, though these tend to become less pronounced as the animal ages. It is mostly black in colour on the surface, though hairs nearest the skin of the animal are a deep orange colour. Its ears are large and pointy, and its tusks are much smaller than those of the warthog but bigger than that of the bushpig.

Giant forest hogs occur in the jungles of West and Central Africa, extending also into the mountain forests of the Rwenzori Mountains and as far east as Mount Kenya and the Ethiopian Highlands.

The giant forest hog is a herbivore and nocturnal, being mainly active for about four to eight hours a day between dusk and dawn. They live in herds (sounders) of up to twenty animals. However, breeding pairs leave a sounder completely and do not tolerate other individuals. This means that giant forest hogs cannot be domesticated, since this requirement for large breeding territories precludes their being kept in enclosures. They are, though, much more docile than other African suids.

Sources

• Hylochoerus meinertzhageni

References

Wikispecies has information related to: Hylochoerus