Zoo Tales

The birth of two Red River piglets at Colchester Zoo brings hope to the European Endangered Species breeding programmes. 

The piglets were born to mother Ans-Marcus (she was named when she was born in the Netherlands!) and father David and are both growing quickly already!  They can all be seen along with Ans-Marcus’s sister Mathilde in their enclosure in the Edge of Africa zone.

Red River Hogs, also known as African Bush pigs, are natively found in western and central Sub-Saharan Africa and also on the island of Madagascar.  They are red brown in colour and with a distinctive white stripe running down the middle of their backs.  The piglets are very much more patterned with blotches of red on a much darker brown coat.  They are naturally coloured like this as piglets to help them camouflage in bushes whilst their parents are away hunting.  As they grow older they become much more red-brown all over and grow white whiskers and long pointed ears with tufts on the end that they shake to make them appear to be larger than they are to intimidate predators!

Red River Hogs also have two overgrown teeth that protrude out of their mouths as tusks, ideal for upturning soil and searching for soil.  The two baby piglets are learning to do this from their parents already, and can be seen trying to route around when their parents are being fed!  Red River hogs are omnivores and as the stereotype suggests they will eat nearly anything!  They enjoy plants, roots, and turnips as well as fruit, herbs, eggs insects and lizards as well as dead animal and plant remains!

In the wild the hogs are often hunted by farmers as they are large enough and clumsy enough to do a lot of damage to their farms and plantations.  They are regarded as pests as they destroy so many crops and can also pass on diseases to the farmer’s livestock and so they are often killed if they wander onto farms.  They are also hunted for the bush meat trade and whilst they are not yet endangered their numbers are in decline.