Suidae

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Suidae
Temporal range: Oligocene–Holocene
Suidae Collage.png
Suid species of different genera; from top-left, clockwise: Wild boar (Sus scrofa), pygmy hog (Porcula salvania), giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni), red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus), common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus), North Sulawesi babirusa (Babyrousa celebensis)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Suborder: Suina
Family: Suidae
Gray, 1821
Type genus
Sus
Linnaeus, 1758
Genera

Over 30 extinct genera, 6 extant,
see text.

Suidae is a family of artiodactyl mammals which are commonly called pigs, hogs or swine. In addition to numerous fossil species, 18 extant species are currently recognized (or 19 counting domestic pigs and wild boars separately), classified into between four and eight genera. Within this family, the genus Sus includes the domestic pig, Sus scrofa domesticus or Sus domesticus, and many species of wild pig from Europe to the Pacific. Other genera include babirusas and warthogs. All suids, or swine, are native to the Old World, ranging from Asia to Europe and Africa.

Contents

The earliest fossil suids date from the Oligocene epoch in Asia, and their descendants reached Europe during the Miocene. [1] Several fossil species are known and show adaptations to a wide range of different diets, from strict herbivory to possible carrion-eating (in Tetraconodontinae). [2]

Physical characteristics

Suids belong to the order Artiodactyla, and are generally regarded as the living members of that order most similar to the ancestral form. Unlike most other members of the order, they have four toes on each foot, although they walk only on the middle two digits, with the others staying clear of the ground. They also have a simple stomach, rather than the more complex ruminant stomach found in most other artiodactyl families. [3]

They are small to medium animals, varying in size from 58 to 66 cm (23 to 26 in) in length, and 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb) in weight in the case of the pygmy hog, to 130–210 cm (4.3–6.9 ft) and 100–275 kg (220–606 lb) in the giant forest hog. [4] They have large heads and short necks, with relatively small eyes and prominent ears. Their heads have a distinctive snout, ending in a disc-shaped nose. Suids typically have a bristly coat, and a short tail ending in a tassle.[ citation needed ] The males possess a corkscrew-shaped penis, which fits into a similarly shaped groove in the female's cervix. [5] [6] [7]

Suids have a well-developed sense of hearing, and are vocal animals, communicating with a series of grunts, squeals, and similar sounds. They also have an acute sense of smell. Many species are omnivorous, eating grass, leaves, roots, insects, worms, and even frogs or mice. Other species are more selective and purely herbivorous. [3]

Their teeth reflect their diet, and suids retain the upper incisors, which are lost in most other artiodactyls. The canine teeth are enlarged to form prominent tusks, used for rooting in moist earth or undergrowth, and in fighting. They have only a short diastema. The number of teeth varies between species, but the general dental formula is: 1–3.1.2–4.3030.1.020.3.

Behavior and reproduction

Wild boar feeding on carcass in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka Indian boar scavenging - Yala May 2010.jpg
Wild boar feeding on carcass in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

Suids are intelligent and adaptable animals. Adult females (sows) and their young travel in a group (sounder; see List of animal names), while adult males (boars) are either solitary, or travel in small bachelor groups. Males generally are not territorial, and come into conflict only during the mating season.

Litter size varies between one and twelve, depending on the species. The mother prepares a grass nest or similar den, which the young leave after about ten days. Suids are weaned at around three months, and become sexually mature at 18 months. In practice, however, male suids are unlikely to gain access to sows in the wild until they have reached their full physical size, at around four years of age. In all species, the male is significantly larger than the female, and possesses more prominent tusks. [3]

Classification

Bornean bearded pig (Sus barbatus) Bearded pig 2.jpg
Bornean bearded pig ( Sus barbatus )
Chleuastochoerus fossil skull Chleuastochoerus.JPG
Chleuastochoerus fossil skull

The following 18 extant species of suid are currently recognised: [8]

ImageGenusLiving species
Locha(js).jpg Sus – pigs
Pygmy hog in Assam breeding centre AJT Johnsingh.JPG Porcula
Hylochoerus meinertzhageni2.jpg Hylochoerus
Laufendes Pinselohrschwein Zoo Landau.JPG Potamochoerus
Southern warthog (Phacochoerus africanus sundevallii) male.jpg Phacochoerus – warthog
Hirscheber1a.jpg Babyrousababirusa

Phylogeny

Cladogram of Suidae. Mikko's Phylogeny Archive (Based is McKenna & Bell, 1997, Liu, 2003 и Harris & Liu, 2007): [9]

? † Mabokopithecus

Hemichoerus

Paradoxodonides

Cainochoerus

  Hyotheriinae

Related Research Articles

<i>Sus</i> (genus) Genus of even-toed ungulates

Sus is the genus of wild and domestic pigs, within the even-toed ungulate family Suidae. Sus include domestic pigs and their ancestor, the common Eurasian wild boar, along with other species. Sus species, like all suids, are native to the Eurasian and African continents, ranging from Europe to the Pacific islands. Suids other than the pig are the babirusa of Indonesia, the pygmy hog of South Asia, the warthogs of Africa, and other pig genera from Africa. The suids are a sister clade to peccaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artiodactyl</span> Order of mammals

Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla. Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two of their five toes: the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, most perissodactyls bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two is that many artiodactyls digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine as perissodactyls do. The advent of molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, found that cetaceans fall within this taxonomic branch, being most closely related to hippopotamuses. Some modern taxonomists thus apply the name Cetartiodactyla to this group, while others opt to include cetaceans within the existing name of Artiodactyla. Some researchers use "even-toed ungulates" to exclude cetaceans and only include terrestrial artiodactyls, making the term paraphyletic in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wild boar</span> Species of mammal

The wild boar, also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is now one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world, as well as the most widespread suiform. It has been assessed as least concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide range, high numbers, and adaptability to a diversity of habitats. It has become an invasive species in part of its introduced range. Wild boars probably originated in Southeast Asia during the Early Pleistocene and outcompeted other suid species as they spread throughout the Old World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peccary</span> Family of mammals belonging to even-toed ungulates

A peccary is a pig-like ungulate of the family Tayassuidae. They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. They usually measure between 90 and 130 cm in length, and a full-grown adult usually weighs about 20 to 40 kg. They represent the closest relatives of the family Suidae, which contains pigs and relatives. Together Tayassuidae and Suidae are grouped in the suborder Suina within the order Artiodactyla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common warthog</span> Wild member of the pig family

The common warthog is a wild member of the pig family (Suidae) found in grassland, savanna, and woodland in sub-Saharan Africa. In the past, it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P. aethiopicus, but today that scientific name is restricted to the desert warthog of northern Kenya, Somalia, and eastern Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tusk</span> Elongated front teeth of certain mammal species

Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine teeth, as with narwhals, chevrotains, musk deer, water deer, muntjac, pigs, peccaries, hippopotamuses and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors. Tusks share common features such as extra-oral position, growth pattern, composition and structure, and lack of contribution to ingestion. Tusks are thought to have adapted to the extra-oral environments, like dry or aquatic or arctic. In most tusked species both the males and the females have tusks although the males' are larger. Most mammals with tusks have a pair of them growing out from either side of the mouth. Tusks are generally curved and have a smooth, continuous surface. The male narwhal's straight single helical tusk, which usually grows out from the left of the mouth, is an exception to the typical features of tusks described above. Continuous growth of tusks is enabled by formative tissues in the apical openings of the roots of the teeth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suina</span> Lineage of omnivorous, non-ruminant artiodactyl mammals that includes the pigs and peccaries

Suina is a suborder of omnivorous, non-ruminant artiodactyl mammals that includes the domestic pig and peccaries. A member of this clade is known as a suine. Suina includes the family Suidae, termed suids, known in English as pigs or swine, as well as the family Tayassuidae, termed tayassuids or peccaries. Suines are largely native to Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia, with the exception of the wild boar, which is additionally native to Europe and Asia and introduced to North America and Australasia, including widespread use in farming of the domestic pig subspecies. Suines range in size from the 55 cm (22 in) long pygmy hog to the 210 cm (83 in) long giant forest hog, and are primarily found in forest, shrubland, and grassland biomes, though some can be found in deserts, wetlands, or coastal regions. Most species do not have population estimates, though approximately two billion domestic pigs are used in farming, while several species are considered endangered or critically endangered with populations as low as 100. One species, Heude's pig, is considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature to have gone extinct in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entelodontidae</span> An extinct family of pig-like omnivores from North America and Eurasia

Entelodontidae is an extinct family of pig-like artiodactyls which inhabited the Northern Hemisphere from the late Eocene to the early Miocene epochs, about 38-19 million years ago. Their large heads, low snouts, narrow gait, and proposed omnivorous diet inspires comparisons to suids and tayassuids (peccaries), and historically they have been considered closely related to these families purely on a morphological basis. However, studies which combine morphological and molecular (genetic) data on artiodactyls instead suggest that entelodonts are cetancodontamorphs, more closely related to hippos and cetaceans through their resemblance to Pakicetus, than to basal pigs like Kubanochoerus and other ungulates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babirusa</span> Genus of mammals in the swine family

The babirusas, also called deer-pigs, are a genus, Babyrousa, in the swine family found in the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Togian, Sula and Buru. All members of this genus were considered part of a single species until 2002, the babirusa, B. babyrussa, but following that was split into several species. This scientific name is restricted to the Buru babirusa from Buru and Sula, whereas the best-known species, the North Sulawesi babirusa, is named B. celebensis. The remarkable "prehistoric" appearance of these mammals is largely due to the prominent upwards incurving canine tusks of the males, which pierce the flesh in the snout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red river hog</span> Species of pig

The red river hog or bushpig is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa, with most of its distribution in the Guinean and Congolian forests. It is rarely seen away from rainforests, and generally prefers areas near rivers or swamps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pig</span> Domesticated omnivorous even-toed ungulate

The pig, also called swine or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus Sus. It is considered a subspecies of Sus scrofa by some authorities, but as a distinct species by others. Pigs were domesticated in the Neolithic, both in East Asia and in the Near East. When domesticated pigs arrived in Europe, they extensively interbred with wild boar but retained their domesticated features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pygmy hog</span> Species of mammal

The pygmy hog is a very small and endangered species of pig and the only species in the genus Porcula. Endemic to India, the pygmy hog is a suid native of the alluvial grasslands in the foothills of the Himalayas, at elevations of up to 300 m (980 ft). Populations of pygmy hogs were once widespread in the tall, dense, wet grasslands in a narrow belt of the southern Himalayan foothills from north-western Uttar Pradesh to Assam, through southern Nepal and North Bengal, and possibly extending into contiguous habitats in southern Bhutan. Due to human encroachment and destruction of the pygmy hogs’ natural habitat, the species was thought to have gone extinct in the early 1960s. However, in 1971, a small pygmy hog population was rediscovered as they were fleeing a fire near the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam. Today, the only known population of pygmy hogs resides in Manas National Park in Assam, India. The population is threatened by livestock grazing, fires and poaching. With an estimated population of less than 250 mature individuals, the pygmy hog is listed as an Endangered species on the IUCN Red List, and conservation efforts such as captive breeding and re-release programs are currently being employed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant forest hog</span> Species of mammal

The giant forest hog, the only member of its genus (Hylochoerus), is native to wooded habitats in Africa and is one of the largest wild members of the pig family, Suidae, along with a few subspecies of the wild boar. It was first described in 1904. The specific name honours Richard Meinertzhagen, who shot the type specimen in Kenya and had it shipped to the Natural History Museum in England.

Aujeszky's disease, usually called pseudorabies in the United States, is a viral disease in swine that is endemic in most parts of the world. It is caused by Suid herpesvirus 1 (SuHV-1). Aujeszky's disease is considered to be the most economically important viral disease of swine in areas where classical swine fever has been eradicated. Other mammals, such as cattle, sheep, goats, cats, dogs, and raccoons, are also susceptible. The disease is usually fatal in these animal species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine warty pig</span> Species of mammal

The Philippine warty pig is one of four known species in the pig genus (Sus) endemic to the Philippines. They have tufts of hair on the top of their head and on the lower sides of their jaws, as well as four warts on their faces. Their skulls are elongated; males have tusks and bigger skulls than females, an example of sexual dimorphism. They are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN, and their population is currently declining due to multiple threats. The pigs are probably nocturnal.

Swine most commonly refers to the domestic pig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suinae</span> Subfamily of mammals

Suinae is a subfamily of artiodactyl mammals that includes several of the extant members of Suidae and their closest relatives – the domestic pig and related species, such as babirusas. Several extinct species within the Suidae are classified in subfamilies other than Suinae. However, the classification of the extinct members of the Suoidea – the larger group that includes the Suidae, the peccary family (Tayassuidae), and related extinct species – is controversial, and different classifications vary in the number of subfamilies within Suidae and their contents. Some classifications, such as the one proposed by paleontologist Jan van der Made in 2010, even exclude from Suinae some extant taxa of Suidae, placing these excluded taxa in other subfamilies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boar–pig hybrid</span> Hybridised offspring

Boar–pig hybrid is a hybridized offspring of a cross between the Eurasian wild boar and any domestic pig. Feral hybrids exist throughout Eurasia, the Americas, Australia, and in other places where European settlers imported wild boars to use as game animals. In many areas, a variable mixture of these hybrids and feral pigs of all-domesticated original stock have become invasive species. Their status as pest animals has reached crisis proportions in Australia, parts of Brazil, and parts of the United States, and the animals are often freely hunted in hopes of eradicating them or at least reducing them to a controllable population.

A pig is a mammal of the genus Sus.

References

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  2. Savage, R. J. G.; Long, M. R. (1986). Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide. New York: Facts on File. pp.  212–213. ISBN   0-8160-1194-X.
  3. 1 2 3 Cumming, David (1984). Macdonald, D. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. pp. 500–503. ISBN   0-87196-871-1.
  4. "Forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni) - Quick facts".
  5. Bonnie S. Dunbar; M.G. O'Rand (29 June 2013). A Comparative Overview of Mammalian Fertilization. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 330–. ISBN   978-1-4757-8982-9.
  6. Peter G. G. Jackson; Peter D. Cockcroft (2007). Handbook of Pig Medicine. Elsevier Health Sciences. ISBN   978-0-7020-2828-1.
  7. Virginia Douglass Hayssen; Ari Van Tienhoven (1993). Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-specific Data . Cornell University Press. ISBN   0-8014-1753-8. suidae penis.
  8. Wilson, Don E.; Mittermeier, Russell A., eds. (2011). Handbook of the Mammal Species of the World, vol. 2. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 274–291. ISBN   978-8496553774.
  9. "SUIDAE – pigs". Mikko's Phylogeny Archive. Archived from the original on 2021-07-17. Retrieved 2021-08-13.

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