Pigs in our traditional impression are the ugly image of fat heads and big ears, but in Africa there is a kind of pig that is popular because of its unique pattern, beautiful fur, and long ears like elves, which is the African red river pig.
The African red river pig is a red river pig, belonging to the native African wild boar population, living in central and western Africa, prefers a warm and humid environment, inhabits rain forests, wet grasslands, river valleys, lakesides, swamps and other places. In order to adapt to the humid geographical environment, the Red River Pig evolved to cover the whole body with hair, and the beautiful fur is highly hydrophobic, like the feathers of many water birds.
When he was a child, he wore flower clothes and grew up to become a mask face
The red color of the red river pig refers to the brownish red color of the coat of adult individuals, and they evolved camouflage stripes in order to avoid natural enemies (mainly big cats) in their infancy. Red River Pig cubs camouflage pattern yellow and black, black for the background color, pale yellow stripes or spots as decoration, this protective color in the juvenile period can greatly improve their chances of survival.
Breastfeeding with their mothers as children, weaning four months after birth, and when they leave their early childhood, they will slowly fade their camouflage clothes and turn brownish red, a process that takes about two months. That is to say, they enter adolescence within half a year of birth. After another year and a half of growth, the Red River Pig officially reaches adulthood.
The most obvious change in an adult red river pig is the face, with white hair growing on the cheeks and eye circles, contrasting sharply with the black base, like a mask with black face and white stripes growing on the face. The long, narrow ears are hairy, forming two long "ponytails", which makes the whole face simple and fashionable. In particular, the male's white beard is particularly long, echoing the white stripes on the dorsal ridge, making the face look large.
The anthropomorphic mask is interesting to humans, but in the eyes of other animals, this big face should be very intimidating, especially when it is charged directly at the opponent.
Can such a good-looking Red River pig be raised as a pet pig?
Pet pig into the Chinese market for a short time, from the initial "small fragrant pig" to "teacup pig" and "mini pig", the cute piglet has become a special pet, and the smaller the pet pig is advertised, the more valuable it is. However, everyone has a doubt, that is, whether these pet pigs will grow bigger and bigger, and eventually become big fat pigs. Is the Red River Pig the right size?
If it's just a piglet, it's absolutely appropriate, the Red River Pig is the smallest pig in Africa, and the key is to see how big it can grow. Although the pet pigs advertised online will stop growing when they grow to 15 to 20 kilograms, the actual situation will not be as the merchants say. Common pet pig species on the market are the Vietnamese big-bellied pig, which can grow to 45 to 100 kilograms in adulthood; the Chinese Parma fragrant pig, which can reach 35 to 45 kilograms in adulthood. If you want to make a red river pig a pet, you need to think about it, the adult wild boar can weigh 45 to 115 kilograms, this weight you can stand.
The adult red river pig weighs about the same as the Vietnamese big-bellied pig, and it makes sense to be a pet pig, the question is where to find it, can it be domesticated as a wild boar?
The Red River Pig is native to Africa, but the original inhabitants of Africa did not have the habit of domesticating wild animals and entered modern society, and only the Red River Pig around the village will be caught and kept in captivity as a meat reserve. This pork is a fine local delicacy, and locals describe it as "tender and delicious, without the smell of pork". European colonists heard such a high evaluation from the local area and naturally had the idea of domestication, as early as the last century they tried to domesticate the red river pig, but ultimately failed. Red River pigs are very aggressive as adults, have great hostility towards breeders, often break cages to escape, and cannot be tamed at all.
Although the Red River Pig has the potential to be a pet pig, it has not been domesticated by humans, so it is basically impossible to be a pet.
How the Red River Pig got a foothold in Africa
The cute red river pig looks less lethal, how does it survive on the cruel African continent?
The attack method of the wild boar is very simple, that is, a move of "pig sudden advance", the sharp fangs of the African warthog look very lethal, and what is the weapon of the red river pig.
The face of the Red River Pig is very uniquely structured, with slender skulls, sunken eye sockets, unusually hard bones connecting the nose at the front end, and bony processing towards the head on both sides. Males have more developed bony processes, and the entire face looks like a shield standing up on the front. This shield protects the sunken eye sockets and fragile nose very well, and when fighting, it hits the opponent with the "shield".
It is very dangerous to face the attack of the wild boar, even some big cats in the grassland rarely have a hard encounter with the wild boar, and the main predator of the red river pig, the leopard, also uses sneak attacks to catch them. Wild boar families live together, and the parents' cub protection behavior is very terrible, and they dare to challenge strong enemies, and this positive defensive behavior can often scare off predators.
If you think that a wild boar family has at most two adult individuals, you are wrong, a strong male can have several companions at the same time, and together with their cubs, a flock of Red River pigs can reach more than 30. This force can make them a well-known local gang.
In addition to its own strong combat effectiveness, the Red River Pig also has a good habit of pretending to be dead, and this survival wisdom only appears in a few animals. If the little red river pig is targeted by powerful prey, such as a leopard, it may choose to pretend to be dead and release excrement to affect the opponent's desire to eat. If it happens to be in the river, it is completely possible to escape from the water, as a river pig they have good water, many cats are naturally afraid of the flow of water, and naturally will not hunt them again.
Vast recipes for red river pigs
In such a harsh environment in Africa, it is not only necessary to be able to cope with predators, but foraging is also key.
Red River pigs, like most wild boars, are omnivores, liking the roots and tubers of plants and also eating seasonal fruits and seeds. A well-developed sense of smell can help them search for roots buried in the ground, which they then plane with the bridge of their nose and front hooves. In addition to plants, they also look for insects and small lizards in the deciduous leaves and soil, as long as they can enter the basics.
In a 2012 article in the Journal of African Ecology, it was recorded that red river pigs digested mangoes and some other seeds they ate, so they did not have the function of spreading seeds. Another habit of the Red River Pig confirms this view.
Red river pigs can also be found in swamps and forest clearings where African forest elephants are frequent, and they eat nut seeds that elephants can't digest. The seeds are so hard that only their powerful jaws can directly destroy them, and the sound of biting nuts is so loud that it can be heard hundreds of meters away. Of course, red river pigs are not directly mouthed, they usually spend 30% of their time cleaning up their feces.
The killing of leopards led to a flood of Red River pigs, and Africans suffered the consequences
The fondness for plant tubers and fruits has led to the occasional waste of crops, and the most vulnerable in Africa are cassava, yam and cocoa beans. African hunting culture prevailed, and in the past, the Red River Pig went to crash into the muzzle of the gun and properly became a plate of Chinese food.
Now it is different, its natural enemy leopard due to the wanton hunting of humans, the number of rapid decline, the number of red river pigs growing rapidly. In order to survive, they had to get out of their habitat and begin to expand into human territory. They often operate at night, looting crops in droves, causing enormous economic losses to the African people.
Africans live in a more primitive environment, it is reasonable to say that the ability to hunt should be very strong, how to make the Red River pig turn the sky? If nothing else, it's because the wild boar herd is too powerful. Wild boar skin is thick and thick attack power, traditional wild boar hunting is the use of poisonous arrows to sneak attack or dig traps, will not be hard at all. It is too dangerous to confront the wild boar head-on, and if it is hit by a wild boar, it will be slightly fractured, and the heavy one will be disabled, and there is no room for recovery.
It is not realistic to cure the wild boar flood by hunting, which is the evil result of human destruction of the natural environment, and it is not known when this struggle will be the head.