Did You Know?
- It wasn’t until recently that the Palawan Bearded Pig was upgraded from a sub-species to a whole new species of pig
- The males tend to have small, marked warts on their face, which is believed to help during head to head battles with other pigs
- Unlike other bearded pigs, the Palawan Bearded Pig tends to live a much more sedentary life
- As you may have guessed (if you are a Geography buff) this pig can only be found on three Philippine islands – Balabac, Calamian and of course Palawan.
So what is a Palawan Bearded Pig?
Well, they are a pig! Oh, you were looking for a little bit more than that. Okay, they sort of look like regular ol’ pigs but have a much longer snout, a couple of very large canine teeth and of course a white beard, which is created by their long whiskers on their snout. This pig is endemic to the Philippines and at one time use to be very abundant…until the human settlers tried to implement agriculture in their home range. You see, the Palawan Bearded Pig tends to dig up crops while looking for food and for some reason, farmers were not a big fan of this. As a result, the settlers took matters into their own hands by decimating the population. With any luck the two will learn how to get a long so this bearded pig can continue to roam freely.
Life is More Fun with Friends
While the male Palawan Bearded Pig tend to be solitary animals, the females usually form larger matriarchal groups (and occasionally they will form very large herds). This group will help each other out with tasks such as foraging, territorial defence and other pig chores. Although, once the flowering plants begin producing fruit, the pigs attention turns to mating. As a side note, it is believed the Palawan Bearded Pig actually gets its mating cues from the visual shift in colours (flowers to fruit). Once mating season is over, the female will use a nest built out of grasses to give birth to 3 to 10 cute, little piglets. They will use the nest for about a week and a half before starting the entire cycle of foraging, defending and mating all over again.
