New desert warthog records for Laikipia County, central Kenya

Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski
Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme &
Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program

There are two species of warthog, the well-known common warthog Phacochoerus africanus and the desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus. The latter occupies the Horn of Africa and Kenya but it once occured in South Africa and, perhaps, Namibia, where it was known as the ‘Cape warthog'. The desert warthog, long overlooked by zoologists, is one of Africa’s least studied and most poorly-known large mammals. Although this pig was described in 1766, confusion concerning its taxonomy resulted in the recognition of only one species of warthog, the common warthog.

The desert warthog was ‘rediscovered’ in 1991¹. Ten years later the first distribution map² for this species showed four localities in Kenya. Today, 20 years later, we know that the desert warthog is widespread in Kenya and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa east of the Eastern Rift Valley. In fact, the desert warthog is now known to occur in Laikipia County, central Kenya.

Read here the rest of the blog and see the photos: https://www.wildsolutions.nl/desert-warthog-laikipia/

Publicado el febrero 20, 2021 09:04 MAÑANA por dejong