---
title: "Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "Tusked survivor that usually backs into a borrowed aardvark burrow, so its tusks face whatever comes calling."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/common-warthog-1.webp"
published: "2026-09-06"
updated: "2026-10-10"
---
# Common Warthog (*Phacochoerus africanus*)
> **Status**: Checked against 4 sources, listed under Sources below.
> **Tagline**: Tusked survivor that usually backs into a borrowed aardvark burrow, so its tusks face whatever comes calling.
> **Soundtrack Vibe**: Heavy UK Grime & Sub-Bass // Wiley, "Wearing My Rolex"
> **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/4vgLBX6ctITK8hqssbqqAO) | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxjdg_D5YQY)
> **Vibe Match**: Warthogs have to dash out of the burrow at top speed in case a predator is waiting, and can reach 55 km/h. Wiley's "Wearing My Rolex" is a four-to-the-floor sprint from its first bar.
## Biological Superpowers & Stats
- **Taxonomy**: *Phacochoerus africanus*
- **Danger Level**: Medium
- **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2016-2.rlts.t41768a44140445.en))
- **Superpower**: Kneels on calloused, padded wrist joints to graze short grass, then backs into a borrowed aardvark burrow, tusks facing out.
- **Habitat**: Open and wooded savanna, grass-steppe and semi-desert across Sub-Saharan Africa, from Mauritania to Ethiopia south to Namibia and eastern South Africa
- **Diet**: Mostly grass, plus roots, berries, young tree bark, rhizomes and bulbs dug up with snout and tusks, and occasionally carrion
- **Tags**: mammal, savanna, omnivore, burrowing, fast, diurnal
## Natural History & Behavior
## Tusks, Warts and Head-Butts
Large upper tusks, a lower pair and three pairs of facial warts give the common warthog (*Phacochoerus africanus*) a brawler's face. It measures 90 to 150 centimeters from head to rump, stands 63.5 to 85 centimeters at the shoulder, and weighs 50 to 150 kilograms, with females 15 to 20 percent lighter than males. A male's upper tusks run 25.5 to 63.5 centimeters, a female's 15.2 to 25.5. The lower tusks are the more dangerous pair, and Animal Diversity Web says they are rarely used in fights between males. In the wild, Animal Diversity Web puts a typical lifespan at 7 to 11 years. AnAge lists one captive warthog that reached 30.
> **Not Bone or Cartilage** San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says a warthog's facial warts are "just thick growths of skin" that "don't have any bones or cartilage." Rival boars ram heads and blunt upper tusks together at mating time, and the warts act as pads to cushion the blows so the fighters "rarely injure each other."
## Kneeling to Eat, Digging for Bulbs
To graze short grass, a warthog lowers itself onto the calloused, padded wrist joints of its front legs, and it will even shuffle along in that kneeling position. It digs up rhizomes and bulbs with its snout and tusks, and it also eats roots, berries, the bark of young trees and occasionally carrion. During drought, those same bulbs and rhizomes may double as a source of water. Common warthogs range across open and wooded savanna, grass-steppe and semi-desert from Mauritania to Ethiopia and south to Namibia and eastern South Africa, avoiding rainforest and severe desert.
## Backing Into a Bunker
A running warthog holds its tail up, bushy tip hanging down, a signal that "may serve as a warning to other warthogs if danger is near." Instead of digging its own den, it moves into an abandoned aardvark hole or a natural burrow, usually backing in so its sharp tusks face the doorway and can "scare off any animal that bothers them." San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, whose page covers both warthog species, names lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, painted dogs and eagles as predators and puts a fleeing warthog at up to 55 kilometers an hour. Animal Diversity Web calls lions the predominant predators and says warthogs usually avoid attack by fleeing. They avoid nocturnal predators by being active during the day and sheltering in burrows at night, and they use the warning calls of red-billed and yellow-billed oxpeckers to avoid predators. Where people disturb them, warthogs often become more active at night.
A warthog has no subcutaneous fat and a sparse coat, which leaves it susceptible to extreme temperatures. Burrows protect it from temperature extremes, and it will even raise its young in one.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### Do warthogs live in groups?
Females do, except when pregnant. Animal Diversity Web says common warthogs live in family groups called soundings, usually females and their young, of up to 18 members. Males usually leave after 2 years of age and live alone or in bachelor groups, and adult males join the females briefly to mate. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### Do warthogs really eat dung?
Yes. Animal Diversity Web records common warthogs eating their own droppings, plus the dung of rhinoceroses, African buffalo and waterbuck. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### How does a male warthog attract a mate?
With grunting. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says a boar performs a courtship "chant" of rhythmic grunts that sounds like an engine in need of a tune-up. *(Source: [San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance]())*
## Sources
1. [Phacochoerus africanus (common warthog). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]()
2. [Warthog. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.]()
3. [Jong et al. (2016). Phacochoerus africanus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T41768A109669842.]()
4. [Phacochoerus africanus (Wart hog). AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Human Ageing Genomic Resources.]()
*Published September 6, 2026. Last updated October 10, 2026.*
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