Brevard Zoo just opened an exhibit featuring the Visayan warty pig, a swine found on two islands in the Phillipines.
Visayan warty pigs are described as playful, and just like our rhinos, they love to wallow in a nice, cool pool of mud. To give them their mud, we are installing a shower feature in the exhibit that the pigs can touch to get water. We will have to train them of course, so once they learn, it should be fun to watch. We've also installed a water feature on the boardwalk for guests to enjoy as well. In the beginning, guests can push a button tto get wet and cool off. However, once the pigs have learned how to access water in their exhibit, we plan to make it so the pigs have to hit their water in order to spray guests on the boardwalk.
Originally found on several of the Visayan Islands, this unique pig has disappeared from 98% of their former habitat and now survives in only the most remote forest fragments on the islands of Negros and Panay. San Diego Zoo has been working diligently to increase warty pig captive numbers and has selected Brevard Zoo as a worthy facility to propagate this rare species. We will be getting a breeding group of two to three girls and one spiffy guy. We will be among only a handful of zoos to exhibit this critically-endangered species.
