African Hog Caught West of San Antonio

The Red river hog is a native of West-Central Africa and rarely shies from the thick cover of rainforests.

That makes the fact Steven Anderson caught one in a hog trap west of San Antonio, TX highly strange or at least a bit mysterious. A friend tagged me in this on Facebook and then I reached out to Anderson to see if I could share here at fishgame.com. These unique animals are close kin to the bush pig of Africa and are rare on ranches in the United States.

The Red river hog has a unique look and generally calm captive demeanor make them increasingly popular with zoos and wildlife parks but so far I have not heard of any on exotic hunting ranches in Texas although this is most likely where this particular specimen comes from. At the time of this writing no one had stepped forward and claimed the hog came from their property.

The species is omnivorous, eating mainly roots and tubers, and supplements its diet with fruit, grasses, herbs, eggs, dead animal and plant remains, insects, and lizards. It uses its large muzzle to snuffle about in the soil in search of food, as well as scraping the ground with their tusks and fore-feet. They can cause damage to agricultural crops, such as cassava and yams.

The Red river hog is often active during the day, but are primarily nocturnal or crepuscular. They typically live in small groups of approximately six to ten animals, composed of a single adult male, and a number of adult females and their young. However, much larger groups, some with over 30 individuals, have been noted in particularly favourable habitats. The boar defends its harem aggressively against predators, with leopards being a particularly common threat.

They communicate almost continuously with grunts and squeals with a repertoire that can signal alarm, distress, or passive contact.

If you have seen or captured on photo or video this species, a warthog or any other unusual swine email cmoore@fishgame.com.

Chester Moore, Jr.