The Sulawesi Warty Pig (Sus celebensis)

Abstract

S. celebensis is a medium sized pig which is common in north, central and eastern Sulawesi, but it is now scarce in south Sulawesi and may be extinct on nearby Selayar Island, both of which areas have been largely deforested. It also occurs as a native form on the adjacent islands of Buton, Muna, Peleng, Lembeh and on some of the Togian Islands. The species has also been quite widely introduced elsewhere in Indonesia, e.g. to the islands of Halmahera, Flores, Timor, Lendu and Simeulue. The wild pigs on some of these islands are strongly modified and there is now little doubt but that S. celebensis has been domesticated, and transported to these areas as a domestic or feral form, probably during the early migrations of settling peoples. It is still maintained as a domestic form on the islands of Roti and Savur, near Timor.

Whilst continued habitat destruction, hunting pressure and genetic contamination through contact with S. scrofa domesticates represent potentially serious threats to this species, it cannot be regarded as seriously threatened throughout its range at the present time. For this reason, recommendations for future action are primarily directed towards elucidating outstanding questions about: a) the systematic status and future management needs of populations in certain specified areas within its original range and in locations to which it can only have been introduced by human agency; and b) promoting applied research on various aspects of its biology, its socio-economic significance to village and island societies and its potential importance as a genetic resource for further domestication.