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The wild boar - Wildboar - Sus scrofa

Order: Artiodactyla - Family: Suidae

Sus scrofa

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Biogeographical distribution: Euro-central Asian-Maghreb-Indian.

Distinctive features: head-body length 100-150cm; shoulder height 60-90 cm; tail 12-20 cm; male weight 45-180 kg, female 30-150 kg. Large stature; stocky and robust body, more developed in the front; large, conical head ending in a bare snout, small eyes, large, upright, hairy ears. Relatively short and sturdy limbs, hind legs shorter than the front; short, slender tail ending with a tuft of longer bristles. Coat made up of coarse hair and bristles, generally very dark in color: blackish brown or grayish brown. Males have large lower and upper canines, turned upwards and arranged so as to self-sharpen.
A Forepaw print: length ~5-8 cm; width ~4-6 cm
P Hind paw print: similar
Habitat: plains, mountains up to the limit of tree vegetation; in dense woods mainly of broad-leaved trees with undergrowth, alternating with swampy areas, pastures or cultivated land

Habits: mainly nocturnal and crepuscular, in secluded places it also grazes during the day. Under certain conditions, due to lack of food, it makes erratic migratory movements. Adult males generally live alone and join the females, grouped in herds, during the mating period. Omnivorous, it feeds on acorns, chestnuts, tubers, bulbs, turnips, cereals, fruit, small invertebrates, eggs, bird nestlings and also reptiles, amphibians, carrion, mice and rabbits. Mating takes place in winter, from November to January; birth occurs after 4 months in a nest hidden in the thick of the woods and lined with leaves; the number of young varies from 3-4 to 8-12; they are covered with a tawny coat striped with whitish; at 2-3 months they are weaned, at 5-6 months they become independent; physiological sexual maturity is reached at one and a half years; the male reaches social maturity at 4-5 years. Lives in the wild up to 12 years, in captivity up to 20-25 years. It can be preyed upon by the wolf.
Status: numerous.

General distribution:
The wild boar is one of the mammals that in the past was present in all steppe and wooded areas of the Palearctic and Oriental Regions, including Great Britain, Ireland, and all of Japan. Contrary to what one might believe today, the wild boar has become extinct in almost all of its ancient range, including the British Isles and Scandinavia. In Italy, the species was considered extinct as early as the 1400s, where it managed to survive only in the Tuscan Maremma and a very few other areas. Then, following releases for hunting purposes, from the 1960s onwards, carried out in a completely uncontrolled and unplanned way, the wild boar has returned to populate areas of the peninsula from which it had disappeared for centuries and of which memory had been lost. The releases were almost always carried out with individuals from Central-Eastern Europe, sometimes hybridized with the domestic pig. In this way, the ecological value of the species has been lost, and today it is often considered and evaluated only as a problem.

Existing protection: the wild boar is a huntable species under art.18 of Law 11/02/1992, no. 157. The subspecies Sus scrofa meridionalis, present in Sardinia and Corsica, is protected by the Bern Convention (Law 5/8/1981, no. 503, in force for Italy since 1/6/1982).

WILD BOAR SHEET.pdf