SPECIES PROFILE

Name: the wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a large pig native to Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. Humans have helped wild boars to spread making them one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world.

Appearance: wild boars are large, bulky pigs with short legs. They have powerful heads with sharp tusks which they use for digging. Young boars are striped although adults are a plain black or brown colour.

Size: wild boars typically weigh around 75 to 100 kg and reach around 0.8 metres in height. Although there are reports of giant boars weighing up to 300 kg and standing over 1.2 metres tall!

Diet: they are highly versatile omnivores eating roots and bulbs, nuts and seeds, leaves and bark, and even insects, fish, and frogs.

Did you know: wild boars have a long history with humans and have been hunted for thousands of years. They feature regularly in the cultures and mythologies of people across Europe and Asia, many of which saw boars as the embodiment of the warrior. Cultures throughout Europe and Asia saw the killing of a boar as proof of courage and strength. While Neolithic hunter-gatherers painted pictures of ferocious boars on their temple pillars at Gobekli Tepe 11,600 years ago. They are also the ancestors of most pigs found today. Archaeological evidence suggests that pigs were domesticated from wild boar as early as 13,000 BC in the Near East and Tigris Basin. 

Location: wild boars were originally found in North Africa and much of Eurasia – from Britain to Japan. In recent centuries, their range has changed dramatically due to hunting from humans and releases into the wild. After a dramatic decline in their range, wild boars started to make a comeback in the 20th Century. Nowadays they are returning to many of their old haunts, and are an established invasive species in places such as North America. In England, wild boars became extinct in the 13th Century but re-established themselves in the 1990s after escaping from farms.

Where TO SEE Wild Boars

According to reports submitted to WildSide, you can see wild boars in the following places:

Photo credit: iisjah under a Creative Commons license from Pixabay