Phacochoerus aethiopicus

The desert warthog is a mammalian, artiodactyl-ungulate species of the pig and swine family (Suidae) native to the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. Two subspecies have been named: the Cape warthog, which became extinct around 1865, had once inhabited South Africa, while the extant Somali warthog is largely found in Kenya and Somalia, some areas of Ethiopia, and potentially still inhabits parts of Djibouti and Eritrea.

Phacochoerus aethiopicus

jeanpaulboerekamps · CC0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
desert warthogPBDB
Sits inside
PhacochoerusPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Suidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Suidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 2.58 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 0 of 60 occurrencesPleistocene — about 31 of 60 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 29 of 60 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.0–924 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences924 ka–821 ka Mya — about 0.8 occurrences821 ka–719 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence719 ka–616 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence616 ka–513 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence513 ka–411 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence411 ka–308 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence308 ka–205 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence205 ka–103 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences103 ka–0 Mya — about 36 occurrences774 ka11.7 ka3.08 Mya0 Mya

60 occurrences of Phacochoerus aethiopicus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

60 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Wehaietu — 10.73°N, 40.42°EWehaietu — 10.90°N, 40.48°EWehaietu — 10.72°N, 40.50°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ERietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°E

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The named rock units Phacochoerus aethiopicus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 52 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Phacochoerus aethiopicus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Phacochoerus aethiopicus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

433 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 60 sites for Phacochoerus aethiopicus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

33 references

Each of the 60 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 21 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Phacochoerus aethiopicus

Credit
jeanpaulboerekamps
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Phacochoerus aethiopicus · dnmnh:35497

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPhacochoerus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Pallas 1766)