Chordates • Earth.com

Heude's pig

(Sus bucculentus)

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Description

Sus bucculentus is a species of pig. It was first described by Pierre Marie Heude in 1892. Sus bucculentus belongs to the genus Sus, and is related to swine The IUCN has classified the species as lacking in data. The Heude's pig (Sus bucculentus), also known as the Indochinese warty pig or Vietnam warty pig, is a species of even-toed ungulate in the family Suidae. It is found in Laos and Vietnam. It is virtually unknown and was feared extinct, until the discovery of a skull from a recently killed individual in the Annamite Range, Laos, in 1995. Recent evidence has suggested that the Heude's pig may be identical to (and consequently a synonym of) wild boars from Indochina east of the Mekong. Sus is the genus of wild and domestic pigs, within the even-toed ungulate family Suidae. Sus include domestic pigs (Sus domesticus) and their ancestor, the common Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa), along with other species. Sus species, like all suids, are native to the Eurasian and African continents, ranging from Europe to the Pacific islands. Suids other than the pig are the babirusa of Indonesia, the pygmy hog of South Asia, the warthogs of Africa, and other pig genera from Africa. The suids are a sister clade to peccaries. Juvenile pigs are known as piglets. Pigs are highly social and intelligent animals. With around 1 billion of this species alive at any time, the domestic pig is among the most populous large mammals in the world. Pigs are omnivores and can consume a wide range of food. Pigs are biologically similar to humans and are thus frequently used for human medical research. A typical pig has a large head with a long snout that is strengthened by a special prenasal bone and by a disk of cartilage at the tip. The snout is used to dig into the soil to find food and is a very acute sense organ. Each foot has four hoofed toes, with the two larger central toes bearing most of the weight, and the outer two also being used in soft ground. Occasionally, captive mother pigs may savage their own piglets, often if they become severely stressed. Some attacks on newborn piglets are non-fatal. Others may kill the piglets and sometimes, the mother may eat them. An estimated 50% of piglet fatalities are due to the mother attacking, or unintentionally crushing, the newborn pre-weaned animals.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
Class: Mammalia
Order:Artiodactyla
Family:Suidae
Genus:Sus
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