habitat_narrative

Terrestrial

Bushpigs are commonly associated with dense vegetation types, including xeric scrub forests, thickets and riverine habitats, where food, shelter and water are readily available. They adapt easily to transformed landscapes, such as agricultural areas, and may become a problem species within croplands, specifically maize, peanuts, beans and sugar cane (Seydack 2013). In the Western Cape, Bushpig habitat includes southern Afrotemperate evergreen forest, fynbos and commercial pine plantations and in the Eastern Cape, Sundays Noorsveld, Southern Afrotemperate Forest, Albany Thicket, Eastern Valley Bushveld and southern coastal forest (Seydack 1990; Seydack & Bigalke 1992).

Bushpigs forage both alone and in groups (Seydack 1990; Skinner & Chimimba 2005). Group sizes range from 1–11, with a mean group size of 3.2 (Ghiglieri et al. 1982). Bushpigs are monogamous and territorial, with family groups consisting of one breeding female, one alpha boar and one or two generations of offspring (Seydack 1990, 2013). Females can conceive at approximately 21 months and litters can be up to six in size, but typically 2–4. The thermoneutral zone of juvenile Bushpigs (10 kg) is between 13–30 °C, and mother sows build nests when it is cold and wet (Seydack 1990). Bushpigs are omnivorous and eat anything from insects, roots, seeds and fruits, that they find by dismantling rotten logs, moving rocks and by picking up leftovers from other forest animals (Ghiglieri et al. 1982). Although they are considered to be nocturnal, diurnal activity is not unusual (Ghiglieri et al. 1982; Seydack 1990). In summer, Bushpigs rest during the warmer hours of the day and, during winter, increased resting also occurred from midnight to dawn (Seydack 1990, 2013). Bushpigs occupy an average home range of 7.2 km² (3.8–10.1 km²), which they traverse every 1–4 days as part of territory patrolling (Seydack 1990, 2013). Divergence in characteristics of population dynamics between southern (low population turnover; nutrient-poor habitat) and eastern (high population turnover; nutrient-rich habitat) Cape populations was revealed (Seydack & Bigalke 1992).

Ecosystem and cultural services: Bushpigs are important seed dispersers in forest ecosystems (Brodie et al. 2009; Abernethy et al. 2013) and, due to the presence of the species in many of South Africa’s coastal and forested/thicket vegetation types, the ecosystem service they provide in this regard cannot be under-emphasised. Bushpigs also are an important source of bushmeat for many rural people in Africa (Lindsey et al. 2012; Abernethy et al. 2013).