Warthogs are unusual pigs in that they are able to live in arid and open areas. They range from Senegal in the South-West to Eastern South Africa. In rainforests their habitat is that of open woodland areas. Despite this tolerance ofdrought and heat, they depend upon natural or self-dug shelters to escape extremes of heat and cold. Lacking fur and surface fat and will insulate their burrows with grass, huddle together and bask in the sun to conserve heat. They range up to 3,000m in Ethiopia and on Mt Kilimanjaro. The flare of their tusks and and the shape of their warts show many individual and sexual differences. They employ their tusks in tusk-wrestling and pushing duels. Pushing is interrupted by lightning disengagements to thump at the side of each other's faces. Both deaths and fractures are frequent.There are several social levels. Mothers and their female offspring retain the most enduring bonds. Thus a new family unit joins others that are probably also close relatives. These loose groupings live within "clan areas" averaging about 4 km2. The size of the families varies with the number and fortunes of offspring (litters average two to three but can number up to eight).

Warthogs have been eliminated from all intensively farmed areas, both as a nuisance and as a reservoir of livestock diseases. They are well represented in numerous national parks. Listed in category 1 as Widespread and Abundant (IUCN).