Here is a Visayan warty pig showing off his cool hair

Today I want to write about an animal with a really funky hairstyle, the Visayan warty pig.

Here are five interesting facts about them:

1. These unique little pigs grow to up to 125 cm long.  The males are much bigger than the females.
2. Only the males have the warts on their face that give them their name.  They have them to protect themselves from the tusks of other males when they fight.  Male Visayan warty pigs also have a crest of hair that can grow up to 23 cm long during the breeding season.  This crest can be raised to make them look bigger to potential predators or breeding rivals.
3. Females give birth to only 1-3 piglets at a time, which is much less than other species of pigs.
4. They eat almost anything that they can snuffle out, including fruit, roots and tubers.  As their forests get smaller, they also forage in farms, destroying crops and making farmers very angry.
5. Unfortunately, these amazing animals are critically endangered and are only found on 2 small islands in the Philippines.  Their numbers have dropped because of habitat loss, hunting from farmers and competition from domestic pigs.  Thankfully, there are breeding programs around the world to save this remarkable animal from extinction and hopefully enable it to be reintroduced to its former range in the future.

I hope that you found these facts interesting and learned something new.

Are there any other interesting facts that you would like to share about Visayan warty pigs?

Similar species:

Red River Hog