Wild boar in a broad sense refers to all kinds of wild boar animals under the subfamily Porcine. However, in the subfamily Porcine, there is not only a genus of the genus Porcine, but also an African wild boar. The picture above shows a red river pig under an African wild boar. In addition to the red river pig (Potamochoerus porcus), it also has a close relative-Potamochoerus larva.
These two kinds of wild boar together form a million-strong army of wild boar. Among them, Honghe pig, also known as African wild boar, is a representative species of African wild boar. They are mainly distributed in the rainforests of West Africa, Congo and Guinea. From the appearance, Honghe pig has striking orange-red fur, obvious white sideburns on its face, slender ears and black tufts on its tail, which is a bit like a lynx's ear.
Red River pigs, like Eurasian wild boar, have tusks, but the male tusks are exposed, while the female ones don't. They also live in groups. The difference is that Eurasian wild boar usually has only adult females and cubs, and males only join the wild boar group briefly in estrus, while Honghe pig is a group led by strong male wild boar, which is somewhat similar to a lion.
Honghe pig is also a typical omnivore. They are good at digging soil, eating not only plant food, but also insects, lizards and even carrion. The average length and weight of adult Honghe pigs are 1.3m and 90kg, respectively, and the maximum is 130kg, which is much smaller than that of Eurasian wild boar.
Masked wild boar, also known as jungle pig, is widely distributed in the forests of East and Southeast Africa. Compared with its close relative Honghe pig, the masked boar's body color is dim, and its fur color is mainly taupe and black, which will get darker with age.
The appearance of masked boar is similar to that of Eurasian boar. The biggest difference is that the snout of masked wild boar is sharper and longer, and it also needs fangs, omnivorous and gregarious. The difference is that the masked boar herd is more like a wolf, and a group is led by a strong adult boar couple.
Why are African wild boars flooding?
African wild boars are flooding, not only the red river pigs, but also the masked wild boars. But as a species that has lived here for at least hundreds of thousands of years, their numbers have been relatively stable. Why has it suddenly flooded in recent years? The reason lies in the imbalance of ecological chain.
As a kind of wild boar, African wild boar is also very fertile. Although they can only reproduce once a year, they have at least three cubs at a time. In addition, they are good at digging holes in lush vegetation, so the survival rate of their cubs is high.
In the primitive environment, the biggest natural enemies of African wild boar are leopards and cheetahs, among which leopards can easily kill adult African wild boar, while cheetahs usually kill sub-adult individuals, which makes the number of African wild boar very stable.
However, in recent years, African leopards and cheetahs have been affected by human hunting, and their habitats have been reduced and fragmented, and their wild populations are declining, especially leopards and cheetahs are no longer mainly distributed in forests and rainforests. Therefore, African wild boar suddenly lost its natural enemies, and the number naturally began to expand.
In fact, China has not been spared from the proliferation of species caused by ecological imbalance. Now there are more and more areas where wild boar is rampant in China. Many people blame wild boar protection. In fact, even if wild boar is not protected, several people can't beat wild boar, let alone eat wild boar. The real reason of wild boar flooding is that the number of tigers, leopards, wolves and jackals in South China has been greatly reduced, making their wild boars out of control.