Bearded Pig (Sus barbatus)

Identification: Coloration variable : young pigs blackish: adults paler, from reddish brown or yellow-grey to almost buffy white. Colour of mud wallow also affects apparent colour of pigs. Head long with a "beard" of bristles along the lower jaw and a fleshy protuberance above each side of the mouth with upward-pointing bristles.

Body size varies greatly with food supply. Females with five pairs of mammae. Foot prints more rounded and symmetric than those of deer, with imprints of the dew toes apparent even on hard ground. Mud wallows are a distinctive feature of Bearded Pig activity. Loud snorts or crunching sounds (of pigs feeding on hard plant material) are sometimes heard.

Ecology & habitat: Mostly active at night but also periodically during the day, especially in cool weather. Diet includes fallen fruits and seeds, roots, herbs and other plant material, earthworms and other small animals. Destructive in plantations, feeding on the growing parts of young palms and on cocoa fruits. In regions of extensive forests, periodically forms very large herds which travel great distances in search of food, swimming across rivers (formerly even to offshore islands) and climbing into mountain ranges. In areas where forest has been fragmented into patches, small populations appear to be resident and adapt to secondary growth and gardens. Adult females make nest where they give birth to young (from 3 to 11). The nests are made of saplings and shrubs which are bitten or torn off and piled up on the ground. These nests are made on sites not liable to flooding, usually on board ridge-tops but also on raised patches of ground in swamp forests. Males and immatures may sometimes make nests, but no other Borneon animal makes a similar nest.

Distribution: Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, larger adjacent islands the Philippines and Borneo. Recorded throughout the area including many offshore islands.