; see text The common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) is a wild member of the pig family (Suidae) found in grassland, savanna, and woodland in sub-Saharan Africa.

[1][2] In the past, it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P. aethiopicus, but today that scientific name is restricted to the desert warthog of northern Kenya, Somalia, and eastern Ethiopia.

The tusks are not used for digging,[6] but are used for combat with other hogs and in defense against predators – the lower set can inflict severe wounds.

[citation needed] Common warthog ivory is taken from the constantly growing canine teeth.

[citation needed] The head of the common warthog is large, with a mane down the spine to the middle of the back.

Common warthogs do not have subcutaneous fat and the coat is sparse, making them susceptible to extreme environmental temperatures.

[7] Its diet is omnivorous, composed of grasses, roots, berries and other fruits, bark, fungi, insects, eggs and carrion.

[10] Calloused pads that protect the wrists during such movement form early in the development of the fetus.

[12] The common warthog's main predators are humans, lions, leopards, cheetahs, crocodiles, wild dogs and hyenas.

Common warthogs have also been observed allowing banded mongooses and vervet monkeys to groom them to remove ticks.

[17] Common warthogs use tusk marking for courtship, for antagonistic behaviors, and to establish status.

When they are about to give birth, sows temporarily leave their families to farrow in a separate hole.

[7] Common warthog sows have been observed to nurse foster piglets if they lose their own litter.

Allosucking does not seem to be a case of mistaken identity or milk theft,[19] and may be a sign of kin altruism.

[1] In 2020, it was noted that a population of warthogs, descendants of escaped individuals from game ranches, were running free in southern Texas in the United States.