Giant forest hog
Hylochoerus meinertzhageni Thomas, 1904
The giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni) is a mammal in the family Suidae and the order Artiodactyla, also called the forest hog, eastern forest hog or western forest hog. It is a large, terrestrial, nocturnal herbivore with an adult body mass of 188.5 kg and up to 200.3 kg.
Quick facts about the giant forest hog
Gestation lasts 142.3 days, litters average 4.35 young, and sexual maturity comes at 1.4 years; its lifespan is 13.3 years, with values up to 18 years. The IUCN Red List assesses the giant forest hog as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 188.5 kg – 200.3 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 13.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 18 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 142 days – 153 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.35src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 17.3 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the giant forest hog
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the giant forest hog live?
Not recorded
What is the giant forest hog?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Giant forest hog” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giant_forest_hog&oldid=1382798435), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the giant forest hog endangered?
The giant forest hog is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the giant forest hog classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderArtiodactyla
- familySuidae
- genusHylochoerus
- SpeciesHylochoerus meinertzhageni Thomas, 1904
Synonyms Hylochoerus giglilii, Hylochoerus ituriensis, Hylochoerus schultzi
Other names and names in other languages (39)
- Eastern forest hogEnglish
- Eastern forest hogEnglish
- Forest hogEnglish
- Forest hogEnglish
- Forest hogEnglish
- Western forest hogEnglish
- Reuse BosvarkAfrikaans
- RiyahAmharic
- خنزير الغابات الغربيArabic
- خنزير الغابات العملاقArabic
- hiloceruAsturian
- Вялікая лясная свінняBelarusian
- prase pralesníCzech
- skovsvinDanish
- RiesenwaldschweinGerman
- Ostafrikanisches RiesenwaldschweinGerman
- HiloqueroSpanish
- Cerdo de la selvaSpanish
- Hilóquero o Cerdo giganteSpanish
- jättisikaFinnish
- HylochèreFrench
- חזיר יער ענקHebrew
- Golema prašumska svinjaCroatian
- IloceroItalian
- IlocheroItalian
- モリイノシンJapanese
- 숲멧돼지Korean
- BeaLingala
- SkogsvinNorwegian Bokmål
- ReuzenzwijnDutch
- ReuzenboszwijnDutch
- Świnia leśnaPolish
- Dzikacz leśnyPolish
- HilóqueroPortuguese
- Javali-da-florestaPortuguese
- Porco-gigante-da-florestaPortuguese
- Большая лесная свиньяRussian
- SengeSwahili
- NguruweSwahili
Relatives of the giant forest hog
Other species in the same family Suidae.
Wild boar
Sus scrofa
Common warthog
Phacochoerus africanus
Pygmy hog
Porcula salvania
Red river hog
Potamochoerus porcus
Desert warthog
Phacochoerus aethiopicus
Bushpig
Potamochoerus larvatus
CompareGiant forest hog vs Wild boarGiant forest hog vs Common warthogGiant forest hog vs Pygmy hogGiant forest hog vs Red river hog
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the giant forest hog?
The giant forest hog is a mammal in the family Suidae, order Artiodactyla. It is terrestrial and nocturnal.
How heavy is the giant forest hog?
An adult giant forest hog weighs 188.5 kg, with values up to 200.3 kg reported. It falls in the large size class (25 to 250 kg).
What does the giant forest hog eat?
The giant forest hog is a herbivore.
Is the giant forest hog endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the giant forest hog live?
The giant forest hog has a lifespan of 13.3 years, with values up to 18 years reported.
How many young does the giant forest hog have?
The giant forest hog has 4.35 young per litter and 1.1 litters per year, after a gestation of 142.3 days.
Who named the giant forest hog?
Its scientific name, Hylochoerus meinertzhageni, is credited to Thomas, 1904.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-forest-hog
“Giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-forest-hog.
@misc{giant_forest_hog_2026,
title = {Giant forest hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/giant-forest-hog},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}