Monday, January 13, 2020

Common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)

The common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) was our near constant companion on our journey across this part of the world.

They welcomed us on our first day - never getting too close - often running off with its tail raised up in fear before stopping, relaxing - looking around to see why the hell it was running in the first place - occasionally to be eaten.

The largest of these guys can reach 150kg - a somewhat scary proposition... Those tusks look like they could do some serious damage!

Apparently Pumba has a very short memory span of around 30 seconds by local accounts.




Mothers with young do a fairly good job of camouflaging themselves - the babies are barely visible - though some parents do a better job than others - each of the photos below feature a mother and two young:







And of course running away through a group of fake meerkats, tail raised, before getting confused and looking around in a daze:









And a family group - most likely sisters - raising their young together - if one of the adults is to be hurt or killed the other can continue providing milk to her sisters offspring.

Some photos of some sisters with their babies - small age gap clearly visible.


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