Pigs - Suidae
# Species kept 1-1-2000: 6
# Species kept currently: 6
# Species gained: 1
# Species lost: 1
These are peccary-like animals that are not exactly peccaries, but the Old World answer to peccaries. The most commonly kept species, the wild boar (
Sus scrofa), is also known as a lion in the vicinity of Berlin, and is one of the most widely kept mammals of them all. The colourful or endangered species of this family are gaining some popularity and are pretty widespread too.
@Daniel Sörensen Wild boars are especially common in all the wildparks across Europe
Species gained
Visayan warty pig - Sus cebifrons D4*↑
4.4 animals, of the subspecies
negrinus, were imported for Diergaarde Blijdorp, Rotterdam, in 2004. But these set foot in Europe in the quarantine in Poznan Nowe Zoo, which thus became the first holder of the critically endangered species in Europe and also the first breeder. This import has been a tremendous success and apart from another Philippine endemic, the northern giant Luzon cloud rat, there is no species that is kept since this century that has gained so many new holders. The species breeds easily, is critically endangered, fun to watch and easy to mix. So it might be no surprise that these pigs have started appearing across the continent.
@Therabu The Elvis Presley pigs have conquered Europe
Species lost
Javan warty pig - Sus verrucosus A4
The only suid to be lost this century (yet) is one that has never been on-show. San Diego Zoo planned to import this species and 2.2 animals left Surabaya Zoo, Indonesia, for quarantine in Poznan Nowe Zoo in 1993, but that ended up being their final destination. The final animal passed away in 2004.
@Giant Eland Javan warty pigs have found their Hotel California in Poland
Species gaining popularity
Red river hog - Potamochoerus porcus
These colourful hogs don’t mind a bit of incest and that certainly hasn’t stopped their spread. Most (if not all) of Europe’s population is at least partly descended from a few animals kept in Zoo Duisburg in the 1970s. This easy to breed species is a popular addition to any African zone and that doesn’t need to be a rainforest zone either. They can be mixed with anything from mongoose to rhinos, so are easy to fit in and enliven an enclosure, as long as you don't mind a lack of living plants.
Warthog - Phacochoerus africanus
In the shadows of the much more colourful red river hog, warthogs have also seen a (more modest) increase in the number of holders since 2000. Much of that increase can be attributed to the import of a dozen warthog from Gambia to Zoo Antwerpen, Diergaarde Blijdorp, Burgers' Zoo and Safaripark Beekse Bergen in 1996. These institutions had some great breeding success over the years with these wild-caught animals that would otherwise have been killed because of damage done to crops. Warthog had already been present in Europe for decades, but have only really taken of in the past 25 years. Some animals were originally imported as desert warthogs (
Phacochoerus aethiopicus) by Moscow Zoo in 1998 and spread to Zoo Tallinn, but this is a misidentification. This subspecies (
massaicus) was however lost subsequently.
@Rhino00 It is no wonder that red river hogs are known as paintbrush-eared pigs in German & Dutch
Species losing popularity
Sulawesi babirusa - Babyrousa celebensis
This might seem a strange addition to this category since the number of animals and holders has surged again in the past decade or so. But that masks that at the start of the century this species was considerably more widespread. But in the first decade this species lost terrain very quickly, probably partly due to the rise of the Visayan warty pig. Dedicated breeding efforts in a few zoos, firmly led by Chester Zoo, have meant that this species is once again on the rise, after having been at the brink of extinction in Europe.
@StellarChaser The exact function of babirusa tusks is unknown, the best explanation until now is that they serve as protection when fighting
Dead ends
Bearded pig - Sus barbatus
This has always been a rare species with the original stock being imported by Zoo Berlin from Singapore in 1994. The species bred there and in London Zoo too this century, but the population has slowly died out, with a single animal (*2008) remaining in Zoo Berlin. That the animals in Europe aren’t pure bearded pigs, but also have some domestic pig blood, might have been one of the main reasons for the decline, apart from a general disinterest in this large pig.
@twilighter Berlin's final bearded pig having a bad hair day
Progress
21/22 orders completed
96/106 families completed
519-528 species present in 2000
537-540 species present in 2023
222-231 species gained this century
211-215 species lost this century
I wonder if it is this demeanor that has also lead to their decline on the other side of the pond, as well?
