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Zebraduiker

Giant Forest Hog

I don't think its really a giant forest hog, it dosn't look like one, its probably a black red river hog ! So I've heared, they will clear it by a dna testing.

Giant Forest Hog
Zebraduiker, 11 Jul 2008
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    • Zebraduiker
      I don't think its really a giant forest hog, it dosn't look like one, its probably a black red river hog !

      So I've heared, they will clear it by a dna testing.
    • Newzooboy
      Its just a bush pig, the other race of rrh. Although would still be nice to see them in UK.
    • Potto
      Excellent!
    • Zebraduiker
      I think, it is a black red river hog, it looks like exactly a red river hog, we have a lot them here in germany. It's not a bushpig, they have them also at the San Diego Zoo and they look totally diffrent to this pig.
    • Newzooboy
      Just had a quick check in Walker's Mammals of the World and think that you are right......clearly the river hog exists in a number of different colours, just that the red one is most popular in zoos.

      Its funny because I had always been aware of these colur variations but always thought that the grey forms of river hog were known as African bush pigs (I think they are in some places).

      The 'other' bushpig held by San Diego is indeed quite a different looking animal which is not mentioned in Walker's Mammals (1991) at all.
    • Zebraduiker
      Formely the red river hogs was a subspecies of the bush pig, but since a few years, it is an own species , which itselfs has some subspecies.
    • UngulateNerd92
      Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Red river hogs (Potamochoerus porcus) are considered a monotypic species
    • threeple61
      It wasn't a subspecies - just a melanistic red river hog.

      Red river hogs were given two ssp (porcus and pictus) but I think they have been dismissed.
    • UngulateNerd92
      I was actually reading somewhere that DNA tests on the specimen in those photo came to the conclusion that it was a melanistic Red river hog, I actually kind of had a sneaking suspicion that this was the case all along, I based my theory off of looking at the morphology of this animal

      About Potamochoerus porcus at one time having recognized subspecies, now that I think about it I remember reading that somewhere, it didnt ring a bell until you clarified that with me, thanks threeple61

      One thing for sure is that Bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus) is a polytypic species, as far as I know, there are 6 recognized subspecies, those being

      Potamochoerus larvatus edwardsi

      White faced bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus hassama)

      Southern bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus koiropotamus)

      Malagasy bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus larvatus)

      Nyasaland bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus nyasae)

      and

      Somali bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus somaliensis)

      But Potamochoerus larvatus and Potamochoerus porcus are not the only recognized species in the genus Potamochoerus, there is one other species and that is Potamochoerus magnus, they were described by science in 2008, but they lived during the Late Pliocene until the Early Pleistocene in Europe (2.6 - 1.5 million years ago)

      on this website, you can see a skull fragment of potamochoerus magnus http://www.igme.es/museo/fonelas/paginas/002-007-004-001.htm?vm=r&s=1
    • threeple61
      Was not aware of the extinct species - thanks UngulateNerd92!
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