Boar

Related Topics:
Board_Pages :: Boards_of_Canada :: Boards :: Boarder_Zone :: Boarding_Schools :: Boarding :: Boardman :: Boarstall :: Board_Camp :: Board_Games

The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig. It lives in woodlands across much of Central Europe, the Mediterranean Region (including North Africa's Atlas Mountains), and much of Asia as far south as Indonesia. Animals similar to the wild boar include the warthog of Africa and the peccary or javelina of the American Southwest; but these animals do not share the pig's taxonomic genus. The peccary is actually in a different family.

Wild boars can reach up to 440 lb (200 kg), occasionally even 660 lb (300 kg) for adult males, and can be up to 6 feet (1.8 m) long. If surprised or cornered they may become aggressive and can cause injury with their tusks. However, this is quite rare and usually only occurs if a sow feels the need to defend her piglets.

The wild boar became extinct in Great Britain in the medieval period, but wild breeding populations have recently returned in some areas, particularly the Weald, following escapes from boar farms.

Wild or feral

The difference between the wild and domestic animals is largely a matter of perception; both are usually described as Sus scrofa, and domestic pigs quite readily become feral. The characterisation of populations as wild, feral or domestic and pig or boar is usually decided by where the animals are encountered and what is known of their history. In New Zealand for example, wild pigs are known as "Captain Cookers" from their supposed descent from liberations and gifts to Māori by explorer Captain James Cook in the 1770s.

The term boar is used to denote an adult male of certain species, including, confusingly, domestic pigs. In the case of wild pigs only, it is correct to say "female boar" or "infant wild boar", since boar or wild boar refers to the species itself.

One characteristic by which domestic breed and wild animals are differentiated is coats. Wild animals almost always have thick, short bristly coats ranging in colour from brown through grey to black. A prominent ridge of hair matching the spine is also common, giving rise to the name razorback in the southern United States. The tail is usually short and straight. Wild animals tend also to have longer legs than domestic breeds and a longer and narrower head and snout. European adult males can be up to 200 kg (sometimes up to 300 kg in certain areas, particularily Eastern Europe) and have both upper and lower tusks; females do not have tusks and are around a third smaller on average. (Compare "Hogzilla", a very large boar shot in Georgia, USA in 2004.)

'Boars' in other species

Adult males of the following species are known as boars: badger, bear, guinea pig, hedgehog, panda, pig, prairie dog and raccoon. The corresponding females are called sows. Names for the young are more variable.

Habits

Wild boars live in groups called sounders. Sounders typically contain around 20 animals, but groups of over 50 have been seen. In a typical sounder there are two or three sows and their offspring; adult males are not part of the sounder outside of the autumnal breeding season and are usually found alone. Birth, called farrowing, usually occurs in the spring; a litter will typically contain five piglets, but up to 13 have been known.

The animals are usually nocturnal, foraging from dusk until dawn but with resting periods during both night and day. This is because hunters are most active during the day. They eat almost anything they come across, including nuts, berries, carrion, roots, tubers, refuse, insects, small reptiles--even young deer and lambs.

Subspecies

Sus scrofa scrofa - inhabits anywhere in North Africa, Europe, and Asia
Sus scrofa ussuricus - inhabits North Asia and Japan
Sus scrofa cristatus - inhabits Asia Minor peninsula, India and the Far- East
Sus scrofa taiwanus - inhabits Taiwan

Hunting

Wild boars are hunted both for their meat, considered a delicacy, and to mitigate the damage they cause to crops and forests. Historically, boar hunting was traditionally done by groups of spearmen using a specialised boar spear. The boar spear was fitted with a cross guard to stop the enraged animal driving its pierced body further down the shaft in order to attack its killer before dying. Specialised boar swords were also used in boar hunting, and also large hunting dogs, which would usually be equipped with heavy leather armour. See also medieval hunting. Armoured dogs are also used by modern boar hunters to track and subdue their quarry, which is then despatched using a knife, rifle or compound bow. Wild boar are also often hunted without the aid of dogs, using similar equipment.

In Persia hunters (usually aristocrats) devised a rather different method. They used elephants brought from India to chase the boars and encircle them in marshland. The hunter would then use a composite bow to shoot the boars from a boat. Elephants carried the bodies to the hunting camp. The rock reliefs of these scenes have remained largely intact in Taq-e Bostan.

Mythology and symbolism

The town of Eberbach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany uses a civic coat of arms that demonstrates this. It depicts a boar (Eber in German) and a wavy blue fess meant to represent a brook (Bach in German), making the arms a rebus for the town's name.

In Belgium, the wild boar is the symbolic animal of the Ardennes forests in the south of the country, and is the mascot of one of the Belgian Army's premier infantry regiments, the Chasseurs Ardennais, the soldiers of which wear a boar's head pin on their beret.

The Norse gods Freyr and Freya both had boars. Freyr’s boar was named Gullinbursti ("Golden Mane"), who was manufactured by the Sons of Ivaldi as a gift to Freyr. The bristles in Gullinbursti’s mane glowed in the dark to illuminate the way for his owner. Freya rode the boar Hildesvini (Battle Swine) when she was not using her cat-drawn chariot. According to the poem Hyndluljóð, Freya concealed the identity of her protégé Ottar by turning him into a boar. In Norse Mythology, the boar was generally associated with fertility as well as a protective talisman in war, due to the animal’s sometimes fierce nature.

In Persia (Iran) during Sassanid Empire, Boars were respected as fierce and brave creatures and the adjective "Boraz (Goraz)" meaning Boar was sometimes added to a person's name to show his bravery and courage. The famous Sassanid spahbod, Shahrbaraz, who conquered Egypt and the Levant, had his name derived Shar + Baraz meaning "Boar of the Kingdom".

Also, in Hindu mythology, the second avatar of the Lord Vishnu was Varaha, a boar.

Commercial use

The hair of the boar was often used for the production of the toothbrush until the invention of synthetic materials in the 1930s. The hair for the bristles usually came from the neck area of the boar. Popular because the bristles were soft, it wasn't the best material for oral hygiene as the hairs were slow to dry and usually retained bacteria.

External links

Pigs | Mammals of India | Fauna of Belgium

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Boar