Suidae (redirected from Suid)

Suidae [′sü·ə‚dē]

(vertebrate zoology)

A family of paleodont artiodactyls in the superfamily Suoidae including wild and domestic pigs.

---

Suidae 

(pigs, or hogs), a family of nonruminant mammals of the order Artiodactyla. Suids are medium-sized animals with a stocky body. The head tapers toward a short mobile snout, which ends in a flat hairless disk. The hairy covering is sparse and consists mostly of bristles. The cheek teeth are cuspidate, and the canines are sharp and curved. The feet have four toes; the first toe is absent. The second and fifth toes only rarely touch the ground.

Suids are polygamous herd animals. They are found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica, usually inhabiting forests or coastal thickets. The animals are omnivorous. There are two subfamilies of suids, Tayassuinae and Suinae. (The two subfamilies are sometimes classified as two independent families.) The Suinae comprise five extant genera: Sus (wild boars), Potamochoerus (African bush pigs), Hylochoerus (giant forest hogs), Babyrousa (babirusas), and Phacochoerus (warthogs). The genus Sus is found in Europe, Asia, and North Africa; the USSR has a single species, the wild boar (S. scrofa), which is the ancestor of the domestic pig. Species of the genus Potamochoerus are found in Africa and on Madagascar, and representatives of the genus Hylochoerus inhabit tropical Africa. The single species of the genus Babyrousa —the babirusa (B. babyrussa) —is found on the islands of Celebes and Buru. The genus Phacochoerus is found in Africa south of the Sahara.

REFERENCES

Sokolov, I. I. Kopytnye zveri (Otriady Perissodactyla i Artiodactyla). Moscow-Leningrad, 1959. (Fauna SSSR: Mlekopitaiushchie, vol. 1, issue 3.)
Zhizn’zhivotnykh, vol. 6. Moscow, 1971.