Three new red river hogs moved into a new habitat at Africa Alive! this month – and they need you to name them.

Norwich Evening News: Two new red river hogs at Africa Alive! are nameless - and need your help deciding on a name Picture: Richard Endall, ZSEA volunteer photographerTwo new red river hogs at Africa Alive! are nameless - and need your help deciding on a name Picture: Richard Endall, ZSEA volunteer photographer (Image: Archant)

Three very unusual looking long-eared red river hogs became new inhabitants of the just-opened 'Hog Snorts' habitat at Africa Alive! this month. The zoo, which is based in Kessingland, near lowestoft, and run by the Zoological Society of East Anglia (ZSEA), opened the new habitat over Easter, and visitors quickly fell in love with the adorable hogs, which are quite unlike your average pig.

Though they're a member of the pig family, these red-coated punk hogs don't have a normal 'oink'. Instead, their calls sound like a bassoon playing a single note. Like most pigs though, they like to use their snouts to burrow for tasty food.

The hairy hogs, which originate from the forests of West and Central Africa, are just under two years old. Kinshasa, the boar, was born at Chester Zoo while the two females (sows) came from CERZA Lisieux Zoo in Normandy, France. But the two females remain nameless – and Africa Alive! wants you to help name them.

'One female is very bossy and likes to dominate the feeding times to make sure she gets all the treats,' explains one of the keepers who knows the hogs well. 'The other is more reserved and lets the bossy one take charge, but she's more intelligent and also tries to look out for the male when the bossy one takes over.' One thing the sows have in common is that they both love attention.

Both the red river hogs are part of a European breeding programme, so it's hoped that they'll welcome stripy little hoglets to the habitat soon. Watch this space!

Think you have the perfect name for these cute hogs? You have until Friday, May 10 2019 to enter. The winner will get free entry to Africa Alive! for two children and two adults. To enter, simply email marketing@zsea.org with your chosen names, or by post to the Marketing Department at ZSEA Africa Alive!, The Grove, Kenninghall Road, Banham, Norfolk, NR16 2HE. Africa Alive! zookeepers will decide on the names and their decision is final. Terms and conditions apply.

For more information visit www.africa-alive.co.uk