Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) Fact Sheet: Managed Care

Earliest European record

• First zoological display
  • 1765: displayed at a zoo in The Hague, Netherlands (Sclater 1900; Vercammen and Mason 1993)

North American historical notes

• Early imports
  • 1875: 1st warthogs (a male and female) imported from Africa by the Philadelphia Zoo (Smith 2011)
• Early breeding efforts
  • 1912: 1st birth, Philadelphia Zoo (Smith 2011)
• Not displayed in zoos for several decades
  • 1960-1982: no warthogs held in Association of Zoos and Aquariums institutions (AZA) (Smith 2011)
  • 1982-1995: individuals imported from Africa, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, and Stuttgart Germany, Moscow, Warsaw, South Africa (Smith 2011)
    • All currently held animals are descendants of these 8 founders

Reproduction in managed care (from Vercammen and Habets 2006 unless otherwise noted)

• Seasonally reproductive
  • As in the wild
• Female reproductive traits
  • Mean age at first reproduction: 3 years 6 months
  • Youngest age at first reproduction: 16 months
  • Oldest age of reproduction: >12 years
• Male reproductive traits
  • Mean age at first reproduction: c. 3 years
  • Youngest age at first reproduction: 11 months
  • Oldest age of reproduction: > 13 years

Diet (from Smith 2011 unless otherwise noted)

• Grass hays, fruits, and vegetables
• Pelleted grain chows

North America

• 128 individuals, as of July 3, 2014 (Smith 2014)
• Housed across 41 AZA institutions (Smith 2011)
• All are descendants of 5 males and 3 females imported between 1982 and 1995 7 from zoos in Berlin, Moscow, and South Africa; 1 apparently wild caught in South Africa (Smith and Groome 2011)

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZG)

• Early records
• First housed at the zoo in 1926 (Smith 2011; Vercammen 1998)
• Current population, as of March 2015 (from ZIMS 2015)
• San Diego Zoo
• 4 individuals; 2 males and 2 females
• San Diego Zoo Safari Park
• 9 individuals; 7 males and 2 females

Four piglets explore their home at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

What do you notice about how these youngsters interact with their mother and one another?

© San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Halloween treat for warthogs at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Sclater (1900)
Smith (2011)
Smith (2014)
Smith and Groome (2011)
Vercammen (1998)
Vercammen and Habets (2006)
Vercammen and Mason (1993)
ZIMS (2015)