Ventral: Red River Hog Travels From Oklahoma To London

Ventral is a Red river hog who moved from his home in the Oklahoma City Zoo to London Zoo. Our team of pet travel experts assisted in his move. We met Oklahoma City Zoo staff at the airport. Then took Ventral (the hog) to meet with fish and wildlife to arrange for his travel to London.

Where Is The Red River Hog From?

Red river hogs, like Ventral are originally from Africa and are found in many numbers in the wild. “Distributed through the West and Central African rainforest belts, from Senegal in the west, throughout the Guinea-Congo forest to at least west of the Albertine Rift”. .They prefer the rainforest and moist savanna woodlands, where there is dense vegetation. But they easily adapt to other climates. So we are sure he’ll be happy in his new home at the London Zoo.

What Are They Like?

“The red river hog is highly sociable, and forms family groups, usually of four to six individuals, led by a dominant male”. Red river hogs usually have about 3 to 4 piglets once a year. The piglets, in the wild are protected by tall grass, the adults build a little nest about 9ft. across and about 3 ft. deep.

Once the piglets are large enough to leave the nest they join their family group and are then protected by the dominant male. The piglets are born with a striped fur pattern that helps them camouflage, as they become older their fur will become orange to reddish brown with a short white mane along their neck and back. Adults have white markings around the eyes, cheeks and jaws. They have very distinctive long ears with white and black tufts of fur on the ends. The males have rather short but sharp tusks as well as bony protuberances under their eyes.

Red river hogs have an omnivorous diet consisting of mostly root vegetables, berries and fruits, however if available, they will also eat small mammals, reptiles, young birds and eggs.