Visayan warty pig
Sus cebifrons
ssp. cebifrons (now extinct) and negrinus (islands of Negros & Panay, Philippines)
Status: Critically Endangered
Did you know? Visayan warty pigs are typically characterised by a mane which often flops over their face, obscuring their eyes, and extending back to their loins.
Habitat
Occurs in forested habitats above 800 m asl, but also recorded in densely covered fragmented habitats such as Imperata cylindrica grasslands.
Diet
Relatively varied, including a range of plants and vines, fruits, crops, and earthworms.
Behaviour
A social species typically seen in small groups including a single adult male with several females and their offspring; groups of up to 12 individuals have also been reported by local people. Although little is known about their home ranges and activity patterns, the species seems to be most active at night.
Threats
Primarily habitat loss, high hunting pressure for food consumption and in retaliation of crop damages, and hybridisation with domestic pigs.
Conservation Actions
Due to a dramatic decline of the wild populations, the IUCN SSC Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos Specialist Group and other supporting partner agencies (including the Zoological Society of San Diego and, subsequently, the Rotterdam Zoo) devised and initiated a ‘Visayan Warty Pig Conservation Programme’ under the auspices of a new ‘Memorandum of Agreement’ with the Philippine Government’s Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR), first signed in 1993. Priority activities identified and implemented under the auspices of this MOA included various follow-up field status and ethnobiological surveys, education/awareness campaigns, development of new protected areas, and the establishment of properly structured conservation breeding programmes.