Visayan Warty Pig

In this photo released by the Zoological Society of San Diego, two critically endangered Visayan warty piglets are shown at the San Diego Zoo Wednesday June 6, 2007, in San Diego. The piglets were introduced to the public and more of their own kind as they become acclimated to their new environment at the zoo on Wednesday. These wild swine, native only to Negros and Panay, two small islands in the Philippines, are part of a breeding and conservation program designed to preserve the species until habitat is secured for their survival in the wild. These piglets, born April 17, bring the number of warty pigs babies born at the San Diego Zoo to more than fifty. (AP Photo/Zoological Society of San Diego, Ken Bohn)

• Cebu Warty Pig (Sus cebifrons cebifrons)
• Sus cebifrons negrinus

The Visayan warty pig is endemic to six islands in the Philippines archipelago. It is now extinct in four of the islands. There are 2 subspecies, one on Negros and one on Cebu.

The Visayan warty pig receives its name from the three pairs of fleshy "warts" present on the visage of the boar. Biologists speculate that the reason for the warts is to assist as a natural defense against the tusks of rival pigs during a fight. The boars also grow stiff spikey hair.

The Visayan warty pigs tend to live in groups of four to six. The diet of the pig mainly consists of roots, tubers, and fruits that can be found in the forest. They may also eat cultivated crops. Since approximately 95% of their natural habitat has been cleared by local farmers who cut down the forest to plant crops, the propensity of the pigs to eat cultivated crops has risen dramatically. Because the land that is cleared for farming is often unproductive after a few years, the food sources of the Visayan warty pig are extremely limited, a factor that has contributed significantly to the pig’s dwindling numbers.

Visayan warty pig piglets are often seen during the dry season between the months of January and March in their native habitat of the western Visayan Islands. The mean number of piglets is three to four per litter.

In Europe, there are only 4 zoos to keep the species. They all keep the Negros Island variety. The four zoos are Rotterdam, Poznan, Chester and Edinburgh Zoo. In America, there are more zoos that hold this animal. None are the Negros Island Subspecies. San Diego was the first zoo outside the Philippines to keep and breed Visayan warty pigs. Los Angeles and Rotterdam have also bred the species.