Hylochoerus meinertzhageni

The giant forest hog, 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.

Hylochoerus meinertzhageni

michell zappa from São Paulo, Brazil · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
giant forest hogPBDB
Sits inside
HylochoerusPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Suidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Suidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At most 5.4 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 5.333 Mya and 0 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Miocene — about 0 of 5 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 5 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 2 of 5 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 2 of 5 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 3 occurrences5.8 Mya0 Mya

5 occurrences of Hylochoerus meinertzhageni on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

5 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Nyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°E

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The named rock units Hylochoerus meinertzhageni has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hylochoerus meinertzhageni and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hylochoerus meinertzhageni and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

190 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Hylochoerus meinertzhageni, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 5 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Hylochoerus meinertzhageni

Credit
michell zappa from São Paulo, Brazil
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hylochoerus meinertzhageni was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHylochoerus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Thomas 1904