On our fifth morning, while checking for tracks, we bumped in to a sounder of
bushpigs. These hogs are mainly nocturnal so it was quite a treat to see them in broad daylight.
Other species include Syke's monkeys, small buck and
bushpigs. The elusive Zanzibar leopard (last officially sited several years ago) is said to feed here at night.
In South Africa, where game is essentially privatized and has value, many local hunters pursue
bushpigs each and every weekend.
Among wild terrestrial mammals in Madagascar, animals of the orders Carnivora and Primata are not considered as candidates for the maintenance of RVFV; however, bats (order Chiroptera) and introduced
bushpigs (order Artiodactyla, family Suidae, genus Potamochoerus) could be candidates, and their role in RVFV maintenance should be investigated (2).
Written by Lyall Watson (remember the best-seller Supernature back in the '70s?), the book is an absolutely fascinating celebration of Sus scrofa domesticus, and all its weird and wonderful wild cousins - including the
bushpigs, forest hogs, warthogs, Philippine warty pigs and bearded pigs.
I'd never really considered hunting a
bushpig, because
bushpigs are rarely seen during the day.
Diet, feeding and habitat utilization by
bushpigs (Potamochoerus porcus Linnaeus).
The chimps in Stanford's ongoing studies kill 75 to 175 colobus monkeys each year, as well as smaller numbers of young bushbuck antelope,
bushpigs, and other prey that usually weigh less than 20 pounds each.
In its natural hosts (warthogs [Phacochoerus aethiopicus],
bushpigs [Potamochoerus porcus], and Ornithodorous spp.
In Africa, where ASF is widespread, the virus causes long-term, persistent infections--but no clinical manifestation of disease--in warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) and
bushpigs (Potamochoerus porcus) (1).