Rejoice for Red River Hogs!

Say hello and wish a happy birthday to the newest members of the Safari West family, Butternut and Taro! Butternut—a little female—and her brother Taro, are red river hogs, wild pigs native to Africa’s dense equatorial forests. In the wild these dusky, red pigs are rarely found outside their rainforest home and tend to stay very close to rivers and swamps. For this very reason, Butternut, Taro and the rest of their family live near Bongo pond at Safari West.

The new baby piglets were born to two longtime Safari West residents, mother Pumpkin, and her mate, Mustard. Both parents are keeping close track of the new piglets as they explore their new home and get to know their very interesting neighbors. Those adorable winding stripes that make the piglets look a little like fuzzy watermelons will fade as they age. By the time the two are fully grown, they’ll have the same russet red-brown coloration of their parents.

While normally we’d encourage all of you to come visit Safari West and meet the new arrivals, for now we’ll just have to content ourselves with providing as much red river piglet content as we can. Happy birthday Butternut and Taro! Welcome to the family and know that we’re all anxious to come meet you just as soon as we can.