An explosion of color has arrived from Holland to Bioparc Valencia. At the end of June Bioparc received the young Suido from the Rotterdam Zoo, where it was born in 2008, under a recommendation from the breeding program for this species in Europe.
El red potamoker (Potamochoerus porcus pictus) It is a species of wild boar that inhabits the riparian forests of the African equatorial jungles. Its scientific name Potamochoerus It means “river wild boar”, in reference to its habitat always close to a river course. On the beaches of Gabon you can even see them swimming in the sea. and the subspecies pictus (“showy, ornate”) refers to its coloring.
And is that The red potamoquere is the mammal with the most contrasting coloration that exists. Her face has black and white markings, distinguishable by sex and social status, and her body is covered by a bright reddish cloak. That is to say: white, black and red. This striking coloration allows them to communicate with each other in the chiaroscuro of the equatorial forest floor, through postures and head movements. However, it would be very evident in another type of ecosystem, and so is the other species of the genus, the gray potamoquere (Potamochoerus larvatus), inhabitant of the riparian forests of the savannahs, has a more discreet color, as its name indicates.
But his artistic background does not end there. The German name of this picturesque pig, “pinselohrschwein”, refers to the Brush-shaped tufts of white hair present at the tips of the ears, and which also serve to communicate silently between members of a herd in the wooded darkness.
However, “Rembrandt” arrives in Valencia with a less artistic and more prosaic mission: to become the new breeding male of Bioparc, providing new genes to our herd. And in this endeavor, the dutch boar you are going to meet a matriarchal group of Andalusian lineage led by “Macarena”, received on the day from Bioparc Fuengirola, our sister park on the Costa del Sol. A whole flamenco mess, with the aim of preserving the genetic diversity of this species in captivity.
In nature, these suids are omnivorous, but they play a key role in seed dispersal in the African equatorial forest. They follow mangabey and cercopithecus monkeys, and feed on fruit that they discard and fall to the ground. The seeds thus ingested pass through the digestive tract and, free of pulp, are deposited with the feces at a great distance from the mother tree. In the clearings of the forest, these wild boars can be seen alongside buffaloes, bongos or gorillas, feeding on shoots of tender vegetation and mineral salts, something that we have replicated in the “bai” of Bioparc Valencia, where the herd of red potamoqueres, one of the largest in Europe, puts a real note of color in the heart of Cabecera Park.
