MOHAWKED MAMMAL
Dark gray in color, the Visayan warty pig is sparsely covered in bristly hairs. This is generally darker in females and light brown or silver in males. They have a tuft of hair that grows between the ears; in Panay, this tuft can grow like a punk mohawk, a long mane that extends from the head to the tail and even hang over the pig’s face, covering the eyes. They also have a recognizable white stripe that runs over the bridge of the nose behind the mouth. And of course, the species gets its name from the facial warts that grow on the snout of the males.
The Visayan warty pig can grow up to 100 centimeters long, with the males larger and heavier than the females. Males can grow up to 63 centimeters in shoulder height, while females stand from 35 to 45 centimeters. Females weigh around 20 to 35 kilograms, while males are 35 to 80 kilograms.
The pigs breed late in the year, and it takes around 118 days to gestate. The sows give birth in the dry season early the following year, from January to March. Each litter can number two to four piglets each, who are breastfed for six months.
They have been rarely observed in the wild, but in captivity, they reach sexual maturity by one year to 14 months. It is likely, however, that they reach sexual maturity in the wild in two to three years. The Visayan warty pig’s lifespan is around 10 to 15 years.
As forest dwellers, they have an omnivorous diet: fruit, leaves, tubers, earthworms, and possibly other insects. They appear to have a role in dispersing the seeds of some plant species through their droppings, based on information from Ultimate Ungulate.
They are, however, known to enter agricultural zones and farms to plunder crops. As a result, farmers tend to view them as pests to be hunted, according to Wildscreen Arkive. [Here at Animal Scene, we challenge readers to look at animals as doing only what comes naturally to them, and that while some people look at some animals as pests, other animals also view people the same way. It’s a matter of perspective, one we hope becomes kinder the more we know. -Ed.]