Two rare, endangered Visayan warty pigs born at the San Diego Zoo last month are now on view to visitors.
The piglets, born on June 26, are still nursing from their mother but are beginning to eat solid foods of fruits and vegetables and particularly seem to enjoy lettuce. Keepers describe the piglets, whose genders are yet to be determined, as extremely curious and playful.
“These piglets are full of energy, running almost immediately after they are born,” said Bob Cisneros, animal care supervisor. “They are continually learning new behaviors and spend most of their day engaging in play behaviors, though like any newborn, they sometimes take the time to nap in their beds of hay.”
Despite its common name, Visayan warty pigs have only small facial warts. They have prominent snouts ending in a disk-like nose and tusks that are upturned lower canines. As adults, males generally have larger tusks and warts than females and are much larger in size. Both sexes sport a tuft of dark reddish-brown or black hairs on the crown of the head. During mating season, the spiky head tuft on the male grows into a long mane.
Visayan warty pigs, endemic to the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines, are a critically endangered species due to loss of habitat, illegal hunting and hybridization. In 1992, the San Diego Zoo partnered with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines to create the Visayan Warty Pig Conservation Programme. Eighty piglets have been born at the San Diego Zoo since a founder group arrived in 2002.
Visitors to the Zoo can see the piglets with their sounder, or pig family, consisting of their parents and two other adult females, in their habitat in the Zoo’s Panda Canyon.
