QuestionCommon warthog
What Do Warthogs Eat? Grazing on Their Knees and Digging
Warthogs eat mainly short grasses, which they crop while kneeling on their padded front wrists. In the dry season, when grass dries out, they dig up roots, bulbs and rhizomes with their tough snouts. They are omnivores and also eat fruit, bark, fungi, insects, bird eggs and occasionally carrion and dung.
Contents
A grazing pig
Most wild pigs, such as the wild boar and bushpig, are forest foragers that root through soil and leaf litter for a wide range of food. The common warthog is different: it is the only pig that has specialized in grazing grass on open savanna.
Warthogs prefer short, green grasses rather than tall, tough ones. They often feed on lawns of short grass kept low by other grazers such as wildebeest, zebras and hippos, and they are common around waterholes, floodplains and even the short grass of safari camps. They pluck fresh grass shoots and seed heads with their lips and front teeth.
Why warthogs graze on their knees
Watch a warthog feeding and you will often see it kneeling, with its front legs bent backward so that it moves forward on its wrists. A warthog has long legs and a relatively short neck, so lowering its front end is the easiest way to reach grass just a few centimeters tall.
The wrists are protected by thick, hard calluses. These pads begin to form before a piglet is born, which shows they are an inherited adaptation rather than only a result of wear. Warthogs also kneel to dig, pushing the snout into the soil while their weight rests on their knees.
What warthogs eat in the dry season
The African savanna has a wet season and a dry season. During the rains, warthogs live mostly on fresh grass. As the dry season sets in and grass withers, they switch to food hidden underground:
- Rhizomes: underground stems of grasses, rich in stored starch.
- Bulbs and corms: swollen storage organs of savanna plants.
- Roots: dug up with the snout and front feet.
These underground parts are nutritious and juicy. They also give warthogs water when waterholes dry up, helping them survive dry months.
Other foods
Warthogs are opportunists. Apart from grass and roots, they eat:
| Food | When and how |
|---|---|
| Fruit and berries | When trees and shrubs drop ripe fruit |
| Bark | Bark of young trees, especially in dry times |
| Fungi | Picked up while foraging |
| Insects and grubs | Found while digging or rooting |
| Bird eggs | Taken from ground nests when found |
| Carrion | Occasionally, from carcasses |
| Dung | Their own and that of other animals, such as rhinos and buffalo |
Eating dung may sound strange, but it is quite common among herbivores. It provides partly digested plant matter, minerals and gut microbes.
Where farms border warthog country, warthogs sometimes raid fields to eat crops such as maize, groundnuts and root vegetables, and they can damage pasture by digging. This brings them into conflict with farmers in parts of Africa. Inside parks and reserves, however, warthogs are an ordinary part of the grazing community, and their digging turns over soil much as wild boar do in European forests.
Water and mud wallows
Warthogs drink when water is available and often visit waterholes in the heat of the day. Water also matters for keeping cool: warthogs have little fat and few hairs, so they wallow in mud to lower their temperature, protect their skin from the sun and get rid of biting insects.
After a wallow, a warthog often rubs against a tree or termite mound to scrape off dried mud and parasites. These rubbing posts become shiny and smooth with long use.
How warthogs compare with other pigs
| Pig | Main habitat | Main foods |
|---|---|---|
| Common warthog | Open savanna and grassland | Short grass, rhizomes, bulbs |
| Bushpig | Forest and thick bush in Africa | Roots, fruit, crops, small animals |
| Wild boar | Forests of Europe and Asia | Acorns, roots, fruit, worms, small animals |
| Domestic pig | Farms | Feed provided by people |
The warthog’s grazing lifestyle lets it use savanna food that few other pigs can exploit, and its digging lets it survive the long dry season when the grass is gone.
How warthog piglets learn to eat
Warthog piglets are born in a burrow and spend their first weeks underground, where their mother returns to nurse them. They begin to nibble grass at only two to three weeks old and soon follow their mother on feeding trips, copying how she grazes and digs. Milk remains part of their diet until they are weaned at around five to six months.
Young warthogs grow fast in the wet season, when fresh grass is plentiful. The first dry season is a hard test: piglets must learn to find underground food, and many do not survive their first year.
Feeding and safety from predators
Feeding on its knees with its head down limits a warthog’s view, and its eyesight is fairly poor, so it relies on keen hearing and smell, and on other animals’ alarm calls. Family groups feed close together, and adults lift their heads often to check for lions, leopards and hyenas. If threatened, a warthog sprints off with its tail held up and heads for the nearest burrow, usually an old aardvark hole.
Frequently asked questions
Do warthogs eat meat?
Occasionally. Warthogs are omnivores, and although most of their food is grass and roots, they also eat insects, bird eggs and sometimes carrion. Meat is only a small and opportunistic part of their diet.
Why do warthogs kneel when they eat?
Warthogs have short necks and fairly long legs, so it is easier to drop onto their front wrists to reach very short grass and to dig. Thick, hard calluses protect their wrists, and these pads begin forming before birth.
Do warthogs need to drink water?
Warthogs drink regularly when water is available and visit waterholes often. In dry periods they can get much of the water they need from juicy bulbs, roots and rhizomes, which lets them survive in fairly dry savanna.
Do warthogs dig with their tusks?
Not mainly. Warthogs dig with their broad, tough snouts and their front feet, rooting out bulbs and grass bases. Their tusks are used mostly for fighting and defense.
Do warthogs eat snakes?
There is no good evidence that snakes are a regular part of a warthog's diet. Warthogs mostly graze and dig for plant food, eating small animals such as insects only now and then.
Sources and further reading
- Animal Diversity Web (University of Michigan), "Phacochoerus africanus"
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, "Phacochoerus africanus"
- Kingdon, J., The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (1997)
Cite this page
“What Do Warthogs Eat? Grazing on Their Knees and Digging.” Animal Atlas, https://animals.bigworldlist.com/questions/what-do-warthogs-eat/.
