Habits
The giant forest hog is mainly a herbivore, but also scavenges. It is usually considered nocturnal, but in cold periods it is more commonly seen during daylight hours, and it has been suggested it is diurnal in regions where protected from humans. They live in herds (sounders) of up to twenty animals consisting of females and their offspring, but usually also including a single old male. Females leave the sounder before giving birth and returns with the piglets about a week after the birth. All members of the sounder protect the piglets and they can nurse from all females.
As all suids of Sub-Saharan Africa, the giant forest hog has not been domesticated, but it is easily tamed and has been considered to have potential for domestication. However, in the wild the giant forest hog is more feared than the red river hog and the bush pig (the two members of the genus Potamochoerus), as males sometimes attack without warning, possibly to protect their sounder. It has also been known to drive spotted hyenas away from carcasses and fights among males resulting in the death of one of the participants are not uncommon.
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Famous quotes containing the word habits:
“Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)
“One may disavow and disclaim vices that surprise us, and whereto our passions transport us; but those which by long habits are rooted in a strong and ... powerful will are not subject to contradiction. Repentance is but a denying of our will, and an opposition of our fantasies.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Long accustomed to the use of European manufactures, [the Cherokee Indians] are as incapable of returning to their habits of skins and furs as we are, and find their wants the less tolerable as they are occasioned by a war [the American Revolution] the event of which is scarcely interesting to them.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)