WARTHOGS: A Face Only A Mother Could Love John Anderson
or hunters who travel to Africa, the African warthog generally will not qualify as an exceptionally desir- able animal that ranks real high on the trophy list of most hunters. It is not up there with the magnificent sable and roan or the handsome spiral horned kudu or the huge eland. However, hunters pur- suing the so-called plains game species may well find themselves in areas where warthogs abound, and a warthog skull, or even a whole head mount, provides an interesting, if not beautiful, trophy. Yes, it’s a face only a mother could love … and it may help a great deal that warthog mothers (and all warthogs, for that mat- ter) have rather poor vision. Warthogs are a wild pig and fit into the “varmint” category because they may feed on agricultural crops and pasture grass where available … and farmers prefer that their cattle ate the pasture grass. Further, they have a high breed- ing rate, so there are plenty of warthogs. And they also often burrow under fences, which does not endear them to farmers. So a hunter who wants a warthog trophy may be welcomed on many farms and
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ranches, and trophy fees are reason- able ... at least where I hunted them. As varmints go, warthogs are fairly large, with adult males weighing from 130 to 230 pounds. Adult females run from about 100 pounds to about 155 pounds. Warthogs are not found everywhere in Africa but I have seen them, and hunted them, where I have hunted plains game in south-central South Africa near the Orange River in the southern Free State. I paid the trophy fee for the first male that I got that had a decent set of tusks. Then I was invited to shoot three more males, with lesser tusks, at no charge. The ranch manager was pleased to have the warthog population reduced somewhat and meat from the hogs is consumed by workers on the ranch. The warthog gets its name from two pairs of warty growths or bumps on the face of males, and the longer of the two pairs on a boar may reach 4¾". Sows have only one set of warts and they are just a bit more than an inch long. These warts are composed of gristle and have no bone structure. The warthog body has a sparse covering of hair, though old
animals become nearly hairless. A mane of sparse, stiff hair runs along the spine. When a warthog is running and alert, its tail is held vertical. When looking for a trophy wart- hog, it’s the length of the ivory tusks of the upper canine teeth that count with hunters. These teeth curve down, then turn out and then up. The lower canine teeth have a sharp cutting edge and can be a nasty weapon, capable of inflicting serious damage on a predator. Typically, warthogs are found in
open grassland plains and tend to avoid thick brush and forests. They don’t depend on surface water for drinking. Rather, they get moisture from the bulbs and roots of plants. Warthogs feed during the day and sleep at night in burrows that have been dug by other animals. They do not create their own burrows, though they may enlarge burrows they take over. Warthogs will eat nearly anything
but the largest part of their diet is the roots of grasses and broad-leaved plants. The problem for farmers and ranchers is that warthogs are a high-impact species, digging out roots and causing consider-
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