Birth of rare Visayan Warty Piglets

Latest news in Yorkshire: October 08, 2018 01:08:58 PM

#wathupondearne

A litter of rare Visayan Warty Piglets has become the latest arrival at
the award-winning Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

Proud mum Trish has been fussing over her new babies who can be seen
running around their home at the park.

The piglets are stripy to help camouflage them while they are young, but
this disappears with age.

The birth is an important step in the global conservation programme for
the species, which is on the critically endangered list after being
hunted to near extinction in its native Philippines.

“It’s absolutely brilliant to welcome these beautiful Visayan Warty
piglets to Yorkshire Wildlife Park,” says Animal Manager Debbie Porter,
at Branton, near Doncaster. “We’re very proud to be part of the
conservation effort.”

Debbie added: “The piglets won’t be let out in to the main outdoor
reserve for a while yet, as they’re still so small they would fit
through the fence! But the public can already see them running around
inside and playing with their mum Trish.

“Dad Troy is being kept separate until they have grown up a little and
can run freely in their reserve. Visayan warty pigs normally have one to
three piglets in a litter so Trish is doing fantastic rearing a litter
of five.”

Male Visayan warty pigs are unique amongst pigs as they grow a long mane
during the breeding season.

The Visayan warty pig – a forest dwelling relative of the pig – is named
after the six small islands where they were originally found and the
three fleshy warts on their faces. It is now only found on 3 of the
Visayan islands and extinct on the other 3.

Hunting and de-forestation is pushing this species to extinction, it has
disappeared from 98% of its former range in the wild but Trish and Troy,
who are both six years old, offer hope for the future along with
breeding programmes in the Philippines.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park and the YWP Foundation support many conservation
projects around the world.

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