A WARTHOG FAMILY
I love these guys. For all their fierce tusks, and annoyed looks on their faces, they are not aggressive to humans. Warthogs eat grass, fruit, berries, roots, and insects. When they are desperate depending on weather conditions, they also eat small mammals, birds, and reptiles and can live for months without water.
Warthogs use those nasty looking tusks to defend themselves and dig for tubers. They spend a lot of time on their front knees digging for roots and tubers, and their face are often muddy. They are called warthogs because they have protuberances on their faces that look like giant warts. Warthogs look hairless because they have a mane of longer hair down their backs, but they are covered in a coarse whiskery-like hair too.
Warthogs are part of the pig family. When threatened, they back into their holes or dens with their tusks aimed at intruders. They can run pretty fast, but it’s a comical run, kind of bouncy with their tails held high in the air.
What does a warthog or bush pig have to do with Africa Hope Fund? It’s the ecological connection, the delicate balance between elephants, herbivores, and carnivores. Healthy warthog populations indicate a healthy ecosystem where there are plenty of juicy roots and tubers for them to eat. The food they forage for is often created in places where elephants opened up thickets and brush and created grassy meadows.
Elephants also help create wooded forests because they disperse tree seeds in their dung as they walk up to 30 miles a day in the bush. When you contribute to Africa Hope Fund, you help sustain the ecosystem in the African bush and maintain the delicate balance needed for the bush to thrive.
Written by Patricia Cole
An Africa Hope Fund board member for 7 years, Pat is a writer and a conservation activist. After traveling to Zambia, she became dedicated to helping Africa Hope Fund provide education to the next generation of Africans and ensure their future by protecting wildlife. Find Patricia on Facebook and Twitter, or on her websites www.writepatwrite.com and www.patmcole.com.