Jolly warthogs love their muddy bum scratch

The phrase ‘as happy as a pig in mud’ comes to mind while watching this video. I mean just look at them. Two warthogs scratching their bums in the mud after their mud bath. You can see they are just loving it and having so much fun at the same time.

We came across these two warthogs covered in mud at a watering hole in Kruger Park, South Africa. The one hog got up and moved further away to find his own little patch of mud. Then the real funny part started. The one that stayed behind started rubbing his bum in the mud, backwards and forward. This made for some real entertaining viewing and we all had a good laugh. One could just imagine how much relief there must have been for this warthog with his itchy bum. It seemed like he just absolutely loved it. When we started looking around for the other one, we could not believe our eyes. In the distance, there was the other one busy with the exact the same thing. The only difference was that this one was rubbing and scratching his bum at a much faster and persistent pace. Clearly his bum was a whole lot more itchy than that of his friend on the other side. This rubbing and scratching of bums was typical warthog behaviour and every single time an absolute pleasure to watch and observe.

Because warthogs have typically hairless bodies, they regularly take a mud bath. Wallowing in the mud help regulate their body temperature on hot days. The thermoregulatory ‘bath’ also aids in parasite removal. Warthogs are prone to rubbing themselves on any convenient place like a wooden post, rock or just in the mud. Ticks and parasites are encrusted by the mud and by rubbing and scratching their itchy body parts they get rid of it in that way.