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Giant Forest Hog in America

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by kbaker116, 8 Jun 2009.

  1. kbaker116

    kbaker116 Well-Known Member

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    Hello,

    Question, Why aren't there Giant Forest Hogs in America or other country's zoos, there is one female at the San Diego Zoo but no males are they impossible to breed or keep in captivity or what?

    Thanks for the answers.
     
  2. okapikpr

    okapikpr Well-Known Member

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    From the zoo's website...

     
  3. Sun Wukong

    Sun Wukong Well-Known Member

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    There goes your answer, @kbaker116: the "Giant Forest Hog" in SDZ is probably a melanistic river hog...

    So why are there no Giant Forest Hogs in Western collections?

    1. They're not the easiest pig species to keep, requiring ample heating, space and a high-quality diet. The ones kept in Frankfurt and Antwerpen in the past thus didn't last long...
    2. Similar to other African pig species, exporting them from Africa is very difficult, due to the fear ofspreading epidemic diseases such as African and European Swine Fever to domestic pigs in Europe and America.
    3. To be honest: Wild pig species aren't the most popular species in zoos. As the time of collecting rare species for zoos just for the sake of displaying them is pretty much over in the Western zoos, hardly any zoo is interested in obtaining a species only die-hard zoo and wildlife fans are interested in.
    Besides, there are other, highly endangered species such as Chaco peccaries (not really a pig, but I still count them in), or Negros and maybe soon Javan warty pigs that should rather be kept.
     
  4. MARK

    MARK Well-Known Member

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    Red river hogs seem to growing in zoo collections, they have nice markings and colour
     
  5. Ituri

    Ituri Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Interesting about the Javan warty pigs. Do you have any details about what sort of program may go on there and or interested zoos?
     
  6. Sun Wukong

    Sun Wukong Well-Known Member

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    @Ituri: The ZGAP is currently working on establishing a local breeding group of this pig (and Black-winged starlings) on Java. As far as I heard, some American and European zoos might be interested to participate later on.

    @MARK: Problem with RRHs is that the founding zoo population is rather small. Some reoccuring health problems (f.e. fatal kidney failure) might be related to that.
     
  7. Jurek7

    Jurek7 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I wonder what is history of this species in captivity recently?
     
  8. Sun Wukong

    Sun Wukong Well-Known Member

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    Pretty much none, @Jurek7...
     
  9. The KCZooman

    The KCZooman Well-Known Member

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    From Sun Wukong "The ZGAP is currently working on establishing a local breeding group of this pig (and Black-winged starlings) on Java. As far as I heard, some American and European zoos might be interested to participate later on."

    Do you know which American zoos might be interested in acquiring Javan Warty Pigs?
     
  10. okapikpr

    okapikpr Well-Known Member

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    The Los Angeles Zoo has supported the creation of a captive population of Javan Warty Pigs at the Cikananga Wild Animal Rescue Center in West Java.
     
  11. The KCZooman

    The KCZooman Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the info okapikr.
     
  12. ungulate nerd

    ungulate nerd Well-Known Member

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    Two zoos in the United States have kept Giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni) in the past, those zoos were the Smithsonian National Zoo and the Bronx Zoo

    With Javan warty pigs (Sus verrucosus), the San Diego Zoo kept them in the 1940s

    I must say that it is amazing how relatively recently Red river hogs, Negros warty pigs, and Chacoan peccaries were some of the most rare or uncommon Suidae and Tayassuidae but now they are the most common especially in US Zoos

    Sorry to bump this thread, but were Visayan warty pigs and Javan warty pigs the only Warty pig species ever imported into North America ? Or have there also been others such as Sulawesi warty pigs ?