WHAT IT IS Naked swine of the savanna. Slimmer than other hogs, with level back and comparatively long limbs. Male wt 150-220 lb (68-100 kg), ht 27 in (68 cm); Female 99-156 lb (45-71 kg), ht 24 in (60 cm). Head: large with flat face; prominent tusks, uppers average c. 8 in (20 cm) for male, up to 24 in (60 cm), lowers 4 in (10 cm); much shorter in female; prominent "warts" (thickened skin and gristle) below eyes, up to 6 in (I 3 cm) long in mates, mere bumps in females and young. Coat: scattered bristles, whiskers, and a mane of long hair. Color: skin gray; mane and tail tuft dark; cheek whiskers white, shaped like tusks. Harderian glands in eye sockets leave dark stains on male's face. Teats: 4. WHERE IT LIVES Northern and Southern Savanna and adjacent arid zone, absent only from deserts, rainforest, and mountains above 10,000 feet (3000 m). GOOD PLACES TO SEE IT Common in virtually every park with savanna habitat, but opportunities to see approachable hogs on short pasture are limited. A few of the better spots: Nairobi and Amboseli NP, Masai Mara NR, Kenya; Arusha, Manyara, and Serengeti NP, Tanzania; Chobe NP, Botswana; Kruger NP, South Africa. ECOLOGY A true savanna dweller that avoids dense cover and forest but depends on burrows to escape predators and temperature extremes, especially in infancy. Although warthogs dig quite well, using snout as shovel, most holes they use have been excavated by aardvarks. Whether warthogs live in areas uninhabited by aardvarks is an open question. Unequalled ability to exploit buried and highly nutritious rhizomes, bulbs, and such enables as many as 78 warthogs/mi2 (30/kM2) to thrive in the best habitat, namely fertile alluvial soils with a good cover of palatable grasses or species with edible rhizomes. With molar teeth and jaw hinge modified for grinding grass, warthogs graze when grass is green and use their hard-edged snout disk to uncover rhizomes of grasses and sedges, tubers, and bulbs in dry season; also eat some fallen fruits. They drink and in hot, dry weather use wallows daily. ACTIVITY Strictly diurnal. After traveling an average 4.3 mi (7 km) in daylight, females and young retire before dark into I of up to 10 secure sleeping burrows dotted within their home range, emerging the next morning-late in cold or rainy weather. Burrows are used by different sounders on a first-come, first-served basis. Boars are somewhat less diurnal, often remain active for an hour or so after dark, later on moonlit nights. They stay up late during rut to sniff out burrows occupied by sows in heat, returning to waylay them as they emerge next morning. SOCIAL/MATING SYSTEM Sows live in clans of related individuals that share the same resources. Mothers and daughters with offspring up to 2 years old may stay in the same group or in different groups that share a traditional home range (average 430 acres, range 158-924 acres 172-420 ha]). Sounders typically number 5 or less and include only I sow with her young of the year, but many contain 2 mothers with their combined broods; sounders with 4 to 5 sows occasionally number up to 16 warthogs. Associated mothers suckle one another's young-usually a reliable sign of kinship. Males also remain in their natal home range. After parting from females they associate with their brothers or unrelated males until mature at 4 years. Adults only join female groups when a sow is in heat. Again, Thank you for your comments!! I wish to thank you all ahead of time for viewing my postings; I just hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy wandering and using my camera! Thanks for taking a peek and commenting