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Pigs · room 1 of 6 · Sus scrofa

The wild boar

The most widespread wild pig on Earth: range, rooting, family life and a clever forager.

The wild boarBecoming domesticPigs in EuropePigs in SpainPigs in the AmericasReality?
Wild, today

Sus scrofa: the widest-ranging wild pig

biology

Claim: the wild boar is one of the most widespread land mammals on Earth. Evidence: its native range runs from Western Europe and North Africa across Asia to Japan and the islands of Indonesia, and people have carried it to the Americas, Australia and many islands, where it now lives wild.

Ask: what makes a generalist eater, able to live on roots, nuts, insects and carrion, so good at spreading?

Sources: IUCN Red List, Sus scrofa (Least Concern); Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wild boar
Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)
Ecology

Engineers of the forest floor

biology

Claim: wild boar change the ground they live on. Evidence: with tough snouts they turn over soil looking for roots, bulbs and grubs, which mixes leaf litter, spreads seeds and opens space for new plants; they wallow in mud to cool off and to shed parasites, since pigs have few working sweat glands.

Ask: the same rooting that helps a European oak forest damages a Florida wetland. Why does the place change the verdict?

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wild boar; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Wild hog
Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)
Behavior

The sounder: a family of mothers

biology

Claim: wild pigs live in family groups led by females. Evidence: a "sounder" is usually several related sows and their young; grown males mostly live alone and join groups in the breeding season. Sows build a nest of grass and branches before giving birth to a litter that can number a dozen piglets.

Ask: compare the sounder with the farm, where sows are often kept apart. What does a pig lose when its social life is taken away?

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wild boar; Marino and Colvin, "Thinking Pigs," International Journal of Comparative Psychology 28 (2015)
Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)
Antiquity to the Middle Ages

The boar in myth and the hunt

history

Claim: for thousands of years the boar was the hunter's most dangerous prey and a symbol of strength. Evidence: Greek myth tells of the Calydonian boar hunt; Celtic and Germanic warriors wore boar emblems on helmets; in medieval Europe the boar hunt was a noble sport, and England's Richard III took a white boar as his badge.

Ask: why would people honor the animal they hunted? Find a team or flag that still uses an animal this way.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Calydonian boar hunt
Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)
Watch and look

Short films

Swipe, then tap to play. Captions are switched on where the maker provides them. Each film plays from its maker's channel.

Enrichment for Jerry the Wild Boar at Bali ZooBali Zoo ↗

Picture gallery

Tap a picture to enlarge it. Every picture is public domain or openly licensed, credited below, and kept on our own server.

Daniele Napolitano · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Byrdyak · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5
Jakub Hałun · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Jakub Hałun · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Klara.vic · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Klara.vic · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Jörg Hempel · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 de
Charles J. Sharp · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dominicus Johannes Bergsma · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dominicus Johannes Bergsma · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Charles J. Sharp · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tisha Mukherjee · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5
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