Giant forest hog
species of mammal
The giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni), the only member of its genus (Hylochoerus), is native to wooded habitats in Africa and is one of the largest wild members of the pig family, Suidae, along with a few subspecies of the wild boar. It was first described in 1904. The specific name honours Richard Meinertzhagen, who shot the type specimen in Kenya and had it shipped to the Natural History Museum in England.
Description
The giant forest hog is, on average, the largest living species of suid. Adults can measure from 1.3 to 2.1 m (4 ft 3 in to 6 ft 11 in) in head-and-body length, with an additional tail length of 25 to 45 cm (9.8 to 17.7 in). Adults stand 0.75 to 1.1 m (2 ft 6 in to 3 ft 7 in) in height at the shoulder, and can weigh from 100 to 275 kg (220 to 606 lb). Females are smaller than males. Females weigh a median of approximately 167 kg (368 lb), as opposed to males, which weigh a median of 210 kg (460 lb). The eastern nominate subspecies is slightly larger than H. m. rimator of Central Africa and noticeably larger than H. m.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q602666. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1904.
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This entry incorporates text from “Giant forest hog” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.