Red River Hog

The red river hog is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa, mostly in the Guinean and Congolian forests of western and central Africa. It is rarely seen away from rainforest and generally prefers areas near rivers or swamps. Its fur is orange to reddish-brown with black legs and a tufted white stripe along the spine, and unlike other tropical African pigs its whole body is covered in hair. Small groups of about six to ten, led by one adult male, are often active by day but mainly at night or dusk. The omnivorous diet is mostly roots, bulbs and tubers, which it snuffles out with its muzzle and scrapes up with tusks and forefeet.

About the red river hog

The red river hog is a wild pig of western and central Africa, a member of the pig family, Suidae, and a close relative of the bushpig. It lives mainly in the Guinean and Congolian rainforests, is rarely seen away from forest, and prefers ground near rivers and swamps. It is known for its orange coat and tufted ears.

The fur runs from orange to reddish brown, with black legs and a tufted white stripe along the spine. The face is a sharp contrast of black and white, with white markings around the eyes and on the cheeks and jaw against an otherwise black muzzle.

Unlike other pigs native to tropical Africa, the red river hog is covered in hair over its whole body, with no patches of bare skin. The hair on the jaw and flanks is longer than elsewhere, and males grow especially prominent whiskers on the face.

The ears are long and thin and end in tufts of white or black hair up to 12 cm (4.7 in) long. The thin tail is 30 to 45 cm (12 to 18 in) long and ends in a black tuft. Adults weigh 45 to 115 kg (99 to 254 lb), stand 55 to 80 cm (22 to 31 in) at the shoulder and measure 100 to 145 cm (39 to 57 in) long.

Boars are somewhat larger than sows. They carry bony, cone-shaped bumps on each side of the snout, which probably protect the facial tendons when males fight head to head. Their tusks are small and sharp.

The red river hog also has an unusual set of scent glands. Both sexes have glands near the eyes and on the feet, and males have more near the tusks. A glandular patch about 2 cm (0.8 in) across on the chin probably works as a touch sensor. Females have six teats.

Behavior and diet

Red river hogs are often active by day, but they are mainly nocturnal or crepuscular, most active at night and around dawn and dusk. They typically live in small groups of about six to ten animals: one adult boar, several adult sows and their young. In especially rich habitat, groups of more than 30 have been recorded.

The boar guards his group aggressively against predators. Leopards are a particularly common threat. Group members keep up an almost constant stream of grunts and squeals, with different calls for alarm, distress and simple contact.

According to Animal Diversity Web, these pigs mark their trails by scraping tree trunks with their tusks and by leaving scent from their glands. Rival males press their foreheads together, butt heads, jab with their snouts and lash each other with their tails.

The species is omnivorous. Its staple foods are roots, bulbs and tubers, which it finds by snuffling through the soil with its large muzzle and scraping with its tusks and front feet. It also eats fruit, seeds, nuts, water plants, grasses, herbs, fungi, eggs, insects, snails, lizards and other reptiles, as well as dead animals and plants.

Their diet can even include domestic animals such as piglets, goats and sheep, and they can damage crops such as cassava and yams. This brings them into conflict with farmers.

Breeding is seasonal, timed so that piglets are born between the end of the dry season in February and the middle of the rainy season in July. The female's cycle lasts 34 to 37 days, and gestation lasts about 120 days.

Before giving birth, the mother builds a nest of dead leaves and dry grass. She has a litter of up to six piglets, most often three or four, each weighing 650 to 900 g (23 to 32 oz).

Newborn piglets look nothing like their parents. They are dark brown with yellowish stripes and spots. They are weaned at about four months and grow the plain reddish adult coat by about six months. The dark face markings appear only when they reach adulthood at about two years old. Wild red river hogs probably live about 15 years.

Range and habitat

The red river hog lives in rainforest, wet dense savanna and forested valleys, usually near rivers, lakes and marshes. Its range runs from Gambia and the Congo region to the eastern Congo, and south to the Kasai and Congo rivers.

It is rarely seen away from rainforest. Several subspecies have been described in the past, but none is currently recognized.

Red river hog vs bushpig

The name "bushpig" causes confusion because it is used for two animals: the red river hog itself, and its close relative Potamochoerus larvatus. The two are in the same genus, and older references, including some that describe "bush pigs" living as far south as South Africa and on Madagascar, lumped them together. The key difference is geography.

Exactly where one species ends and the other begins is unclear. Where they meet, some authorities say they interbreed, but others dispute this.

Conservation status

The red river hog is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, in an assessment published in 2016. It is widespread across the forests of western and central Africa.

The main pressure on the species is people. Animal Diversity Web, which covers red river hogs and bushpigs together, notes that these pigs are hunted for food and because they damage crops and kill livestock. It also reports that numbers have risen in places as leopards, their main predator, have declined and farming has expanded. The pigs can carry African swine fever through ticks; it does not harm them but is fatal to domestic pigs.

Other wild pigs with pages here include the warthog and the babirusa.