The Wild Pig (Sus scrofa) Behavior – A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Wild pigs are the most prolific, very intelligent and secretive species that over the recent past has been in a lot of conflict terms with the humans. These animals are adaptive generalists and survive in wide range of habitats worldwide. The reproductive traits of wild pigs are extraordinary showing high prolificacy so it becomes impossible to control their population. These animals have adapted to become nocturnal proving it difficult to know about their behavior. However in order in spite of these challenges the main objectives of this study was to understand the behavior and ecology of this particular species to come up the control strategies. Thus basis for documenting and understanding the wild pig behavior has dramatically evolved, contributing significantly to our understanding of these animals. In general, however, the lack of intensive field studies was attributed to the fact that wild pigs were regarded everywhere as a pest. The wild pig groups usually known as sounder's were tracked and all findings were documented. The study period was about a year and the wild pigs were tracked and observed at the adjoining regions of the Eastern Ghats (Sathyamangalam region) and the Western Ghats (Mudumalai tiger reserve, Anaimalai tiger reserve) and of Tamil Nadu state during November, 2012 to October, 2014. A variety of behaviors were documented such as social unit organization, Habitat utilization, Daily activity patterns, Movement patterns, Modes of mobility, Home range, Male-male competition, Maternal behavior, Resting/loafing beds, Mannerism and attitudes, Vigilance behavior, Vocalizations, Wallowing, Rubbing, Symbiotic grooming behavior, Scent marking, Senses. At the end of the study we were able to precisely outlay the above the entire behavior attributes of wild pigs. These findings are necessary to understand the wild pigs and their vermin nature to combat crop raiding, eventually cutting down Human-Wild pig conflict, that will a more scientific method of conservation to avoid conflicts ending in tragic outcomes.

Behavioural patterns of free roaming wild boar in a spatiotemporal context

“…foraging (Berger, 2006;Bertolotto, 2010) which they mainly explore in the first half of their activity time . In contrast, coniferous forest is preferred for their resting sites (Bertolotto, 2010) as well as secure places for wallowing and sleeping (GÖT & BAT, 2003;Allwin et al, 2016). Comfort behaviour often takes place in the second half of the night .…”

“…Wild boar move fast and take the shortest path when crossing an open unsecure space (Meynhardt, 1982). Manmade forest aisles that are rarely used by humans are probably used by wild boar (Allwin et al, 2016) to allow fast movement through forest areas. Thus, the hypothesis that foraging and related behaviour occur in broad-leaved forest is confirmed.…”

“…Thus in future studies, it would be advisable to observe wild boar for at least one year via camera traps to get a whole impression of their spatiotemporal behaviour. This year long observation would also account for possible weather influences on the activity and habitat choice of wild boar (Saebel, 2007;Briedermann, 2009;Allwin et al, 2016). Sound recordings could, hence, be taken when looking at courtship interactions to record communication behaviour and to eliminate the influence of the data collection via camera traps.…”

“…Wild boar are amongst the most intelligent and adaptable large terrestrial mammals in Central Europe (Briedermann, 2009) making it very interesting for behavioural analyses in relation to the time of day and different habitat types. Only few studies analysed the behaviour of wild boar under natural conditions (Allwin et al, 2016;Probst et al, 2017). Most studies were conducted at artificial feeding places (Schneider, 1980;Saebel, 2007;Focardi et al, 2015) or in enclosures (e.g., Gundlach, 1968;Beuerle, 1975;Altmann, 1989) which does not necessarily enable to cover all behavioural elements that would normally occur over the course of a day in a wild population.…”

“…Most studies were conducted at artificial feeding places (Schneider, 1980;Saebel, 2007;Focardi et al, 2015) or in enclosures (e.g., Gundlach, 1968;Beuerle, 1975;Altmann, 1989) which does not necessarily enable to cover all behavioural elements that would normally occur over the course of a day in a wild population. There is a lack of recent field studies under natural conditions due to the fact that wild boar are widely seen as a pest because of their constant conflict terms with humans, such as crop damage, disease transmission (Keuling et al, 2013;Allwin et al, 2016;Probst et al, 2017) and zoonosis, road traffic accidents, and disturbances to sensitive plant communities (Maselli et al, 2014). Though, it is very important to understand the behaviour of wild boar to be able to implement effective management strategies for reduction plans (Maselli et al, 2014) as well as for animal welfare in enclosures (Kovács, Újváry & Szemethy, 2017).…”