Mob Menagerie: Hoglin

Be cautious when approaching a Hoglin because they don’t like outsiders. They’ll often attack with their tusks, flinging a target into the air even if they try to block with a shield. Attacking one yourself, even in self-defense, will provoke all other nearby Hoglins to attack too. Even baby hoglins will join in.

So how can you defend yourself? Well, hoglins are surprisingly sensitive creatures. They hate the smell of warped fungi, so placing some down on the ground will cause any hoglins nearby to flee (holding one isn’t enough). They also dislike the sound of active nether portals and respawn anchors, and will avoid those too. If you do force one through a nether portal into the Overworld, it’ll transform into a zoglin.

Remarkably, despite the Hoglin’s natural hostility, some players have reported success in getting them to breed. The secret, apparently, is their favourite food – crimson fungi. Feeding two hoglins crimson fungi will reliably result in a baby hoglin, which will stay by its parents, and takes about 20 minutes to grow into an adult – a process that can be accelerated with more crimson fungi.

We have plenty of horned pig-like beasts on Earth too, but the one that most closely resembles Minecraft’s hoglin is probably the warthog. Warthogs live in open, dry, areas in the southern half of Africa. Their bodies are covered in tough, bristly hair, and they have prominent tusks that can grow up to 60cm long. They mostly eat plants, but they’re omnivorous and will occasionally eat bugs and small animals too.

Warthogs are impressive diggers – using their snouts and feet. They often dig burrows to live in, but sometimes move into abandoned burrows of other animals like aardvarks. When it gets hot, they like to wallow in mud. Oh and unlike Minecraft’s hoglins, warthogs prefer not to fight when they don’t need to. Their most common response to danger is to run away – at speeds of up to 30mph.

There are estimated to be somewhere around 250,000 warthogs in southern Africa, plus a small population living in Texas in the United States that are believed to have escaped from game ranches. While they’ve been driven to extinction in some areas, they’re plentiful in others and so they’re not of major concern to conservationists. 

In Minecraft? Well, we sent some biologists to start counting hoglins a while ago and they’ve not come back – so they must still be counting. Do feel free to join them. Just make sure to bring some warped fungi with you.