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 The newest arrivals along the Tropics Trail are a group of wild-haired swine from the Philippine island of Panay. Unlike other wild pig species, male Visayan warty pigs have a lush mane that may be over a foot long and that sometimes stands straight up when the animals are excited as if in a Mohawk. Males also have three pairs of bumps or warts on their faces which may help protect them against the tusks of other males in battle (thus the name “warty pigs”).
These pigs also have one more unfortunate distinction: they are the most critically endangered of the world’s wild pig species. Originally found on several of the Visayan Islands, the Philippines’ central archipelago, they have disappeared from 98% of their former habitat and now survive in only the most remote forest fragments on the islands of Negros and Panay. Infamous as crop raiders on the farms that have replaced their former rain forests, these pigs suffer from over-hunting, hybridizing with free-ranging domestic pigs, and continued loss of habitat.
The Minnesota Zoo is one of only a few zoos in the United States to exhibit these pigs. We have four yearling males that currently vary in weight from 20 to 40 pounds and have set up residence in a new exhibit across the walkway from red panda and goral, just after the Coral Reef aquarium.
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Visayan warty pigs are new to the Tropics Trail. Photos by Chet Ellingson. |
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Little is known about Visayan warty pigs in the wild, but zookeepers describe them as playful and friendly. |
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Ears are short. Body is light to dark gray almost black. Older animals get light gray to white hair mixed with the gray on their sides, front to back. |
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They are active during most parts of the day. They root, burrow, and like to take mud baths to cool themselves in pools of water. When logs are offered the pigs enjoy climbing and jumping on them. |
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They move in groups of 4-5 individuals but groups of up to a dozen have occasionally been seen. |
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Mating occurs throughout the year, although in the wild, most litters are born during the dry season—January through March. |
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Boars develop a long breeding mane with long whitish gray whiskers which are grown in the fall and shed, along with the mane, in February or March. No other wild pig is known to do this. |
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Females build a large nest just prior to giving birth and produce smaller litters than any other member of their genus having only 1-3 piglets. |
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Piglets under six months of age have longitudinal light stripes along the length of their body. They are highly precocious and can be heard vocalizing at day one often coming out of the nest soon after birth. |
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Visayan warty pigs are part of a Species Survival Plan (SSP). |
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