Phacochoerus africanus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	MAMMALIA	CETARTIODACTYLA	SUIDAE

Scientific Name:

Phacochoerus africanus

Species Authority:

(Gmelin, 1788)

Common Name/s:

English	–	Common Warthog, Eritrean Warthog, Warthog
French	–	Phacochère Commun

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2008

Assessor/s

Cumming, D.H.M.

Evaluator/s:

Leus, K. ( Pig, Peccary & Hippo Red List Authority) & Hoffmann, M. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)

Justification:
Listed as Least Concern as the species is relatively widespread, abundant, and there are no major threats believed to be resulting in a significant population decline.

History:

1996

–

Lower Risk/least concern (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in scattered populations in West Africa eastwards to Ethiopia and then southwards in protected areas and unsettled, or very lightly settled, areas in East and southern Africa. Historically, P. africanus did not occur in the arid Karoo of South Africa where it was replaced by the extinct Cape Warthog P. aethiopicus aethiopicus (Cumming in press). The continuous expansion of the Sahel-zone has resulted in a marked contraction in the species’ former range in the north since the early 1980s, and accounts for its probable extinction in Niger (J. Newby, in Vercammen and Mason 1993).
Countries:	Native: Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mozambique; Namibia; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Africa; Sudan; Swaziland; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe Possibly extinct: Niger
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	The overall number of warthog in southern Africa (Angola, Zambia, Tanzania and southwards) has been estimated at about 250,000 (Cumming 1999). Typical densities range between 1 and 10 per km² in protected areas (Cumming in press), but local densities of 77 per km² were found on short grass in Nakuru National Park (Radke 1991).
Population Trend:	Stable

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Confined to moist and dry African savanna grasslands, open bushlands and woodlands, usually within range of perennial surface water (Cumming in press). Although usually absent from forests, thickets, cool montane grasslands, and deserts and succulent steppes, the population in the Goda Mtns in Djibouti mainly occupies forested areas (Künzel et al. 2000; Cumming in press). Recorded to elevations of 3,500 m in the Ethiopian Highlands (Yalden et al. 1996).
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

Confined to moist and dry African savanna grasslands, open bushlands and woodlands, usually within range of perennial surface water (Cumming in press). Although usually absent from forests, thickets, cool montane grasslands, and deserts and succulent steppes, the population in the Goda Mtns in Djibouti mainly occupies forested areas (Künzel et al. 2000; Cumming in press). Recorded to elevations of 3,500 m in the Ethiopian Highlands (Yalden et al. 1996).

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	There are no current major threats. However, the species is very susceptible to drought and hunting, which may result in localized extinctions.

Major Threat(s):

There are no current major threats. However, the species is very susceptible to drought and hunting, which may result in localized extinctions.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	The Common Warthog is present in numerous protected areas across its extensive range.

Conservation Actions:

The Common Warthog is present in numerous protected areas across its extensive range.

Citation:	Cumming, D.H.M. 2008. Phacochoerus africanus. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 08 January 2009.
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