Mammals of the WorldEurasian Wild Pig
Sus scrofa
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Suidae
- Genus
- Sus
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Morocco|Algeria|Tunisia|United Kingdom|Portugal|Spain|France|Belgium|Netherlands|Germany|Denmark|Sweden|Finland|Switzerland|Luxembourg|Liechtenstein|Italy|Austria|Hungary|Czech Republic|Poland|Slovakia|Slovenia|Croatia|Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbia|Kosovo|Montenegro|Albania|North Macedonia|Greece|Bulgaria|Moldova|Ukraine|Belarus|Lithuania|Latvia|Estonia|Russia|Georgia|Armenia|Azerbaijan|Turkey|Cyprus|Syria|Lebanon|Israel|Palestine|Jordan|Iraq|Iran|Turkmenistan|Uzbekistan|Kazakhstan|Tajikistan|Kyrgyzstan|Afghanistan|Pakistan|China|Mongolia|North Korea|South Korea|Japan|Taiwan|India|Nepal|Bhutan|Bangladesh|Sri Lanka|Myanmar|Thailand|Laos|Vietnam|Cambodia|Malaysia|Singapore|Indonesia
- Realm
- Palearctic
Other names: Wild Boar|Indochinese Pig|Indonesian Banded Pig
About this species
- Size
- Sizes vary widely by region
- Weight
- Europe: males 75–100kg (general species figure)
- Diet
- Omnivore: roots, tubers, nuts, berries, leaves, invertebrates, small vertebrates and carrion
- Range
- Much of Eurasia and North Africa; introduced to the Americas and Oceania
The wild boar is a bulky, massively built pig with short, relatively thin legs. The neck is short and thick and the head very large, up to a third of the body length, and shaped for digging, so that powerful neck muscles let it upturn soil and even rocks. Males are typically 5 to 10 per cent larger and 20 to 30 per cent heavier than females, carry a mane down the back and have canines that grow throughout life, the lower ones sharper and longer. Size depends strongly on habitat, and in most of Europe males average 75 to 100 kg (Wikipedia, general species account).
The coat is coarse bristles over short downy fur, and colour varies widely. Piglets are light or rusty brown with pale bands. Boars live in groups of related females and their young, while adult males are usually solitary outside the breeding season. It is a highly versatile omnivore that digs up roots, tubers and bulbs, and eats nuts, berries, leaves, invertebrates, small vertebrates and carrion. Its sense of smell is very well developed, its hearing acute and its eyesight comparatively weak. The species is native to much of Eurasia and North Africa and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of Thailand guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)