The Afrotropical Suids - IUCN

eing interwoven with the cultures of the people who depended upon them. Surviving
examples of these 'pig cultures' are still to be found amongst some tribal groups in these
areas, and it is apparent that pigs are as fundamental to the integrity and economy of
these societies as cattle are to other, comparable societies in the drier regions of the
Indian Subcontinent and Africa.
Being highly adaptable, more prolific and more suited to backyard and small-scale
commercial husbandry, pigs are also more abundant and more widely distributed than
other hoofstock and they are still amongst the most important of all domestic animals. In
Asia alone, the annual consumption of pork had exceeded 20 million tons per year by the
mid-1980's, an amount greater than the total consumption of all other domesticated
species put together (FAO, 1985).
The importance of these animals as a basic food resource was also reflected in their
widespread carriage and dispersal during the early transmigrations of settling peoples,
who either released them to be hunted whenever required for eating or who maintained
them in varying states of domestication.
Their dispersal was continued by the later European explorers, sealers, whalers,
immigrant settlers and colonialists, and most recently (and irresponsibly) by commercial
and recreational hunters and game meat producers; all of whom have transported and
(whether accidentally or deliberately) released founder stocks to form naturalized
populations. As a result, pigs are now one of the most widely distributed of all species,
and the diversity of wild and domestic, feral, hybrid, native and introduced forms, has
produced patterns of distribution and interrelationships of almost unparalleled confusion.
This complexity of forms is most apparent in South-east Asia, where an inordinate
number of taxa have been described in the scientific literature. The challenge of
unraveling their relationships was taken up by Colin Groves, whose major reviews of
Babyrousa (1980) and, especially, Sus (1981) are the basis for our present understanding
of the diversity and regional genetic variation in these genera. In clarifying the affinities
and distribution of innumerable naturalized populations, many of which were erroneously
recognized as valid taxa, Groves also helped to clear the dross and provide a contextual
framework for the interpretation and weighting of other, conservation-related data.
The current and equally important review of the subgeneric taxonomy of the Afrotropical
suids by Peter Grubb (section 4.1, this vol.) has also provided an indispensable rationale
for weighting future research and conservation priorities amongst these animals. In this
instance, however, the prioritization process was greatly facilitated by the simultaneous
collection of questionnaire data on the present distribution and conservation status of all
suiform species from most (sub-Saharan) African countries. In 1988/89, following a
format similar to that devised by the Antelope Specialist Group (East, 1988),
approximately 600 questionnaires (one questionnaire for each species of wild pig and
hippo known or believed likely to occur in each country) were sent to a total of 115
wildlife officials and biologists in 42 countries. A total of 236 (39%) completed
questionnaires and/or copies of relevant reports, reprints and maps, were returned by 93
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