Vild Board indentation

The wild boar was eradicated in Sweden during the 1700s. Since then, there have been escapes from enclosures on various occasions, but to protect agricultural crops, the animals were eradicated each time. New escapes in the 1970s led to free-living wild boar in Södermanland. In 1988, the Swedish parliament decided that they should be allowed to live, as the species belongs to our native fauna.

DISTRIBUTION AND BEHAVIOR
Wild boar now occur in Götaland and large parts of Svealand and have started to spread into Norway. Their rapid spread is partly due to escapes from enclosures outside of Södermanland and also from illegal releases. But above all, it is due to the wild boar’s remarkable reproductive rate and strong dispersal ability, as well as the fact that suitable habitats are found almost everywhere.
Wild boar have home ranges in which they forage and rest during the day. These can range from a few hundred to thousands of hectares depending on food availability. Several wild boar groups can share the same area. Boars thrive in most habitats as long as there are dense patches for cover, enough food, and moist areas for wallowing.
They are often seen during bright summer nights, but otherwise are mostly nocturnal. During the day, they rest in dense woods, reed beds, or similar places. Wild boars can press flat to the ground and let a forest walker pass close by without being noticed. Females, both with and without piglets, stay together in groups led by an experienced lead sow. The animals in such a group are related. At about one year of age, the young males leave the group and may form their own groups. From age two, they live alone—except during the mating season, when they seek out groups with sows and gilts.

NAMES AND SEX DIFFERENCES
In addition to sow and piglet or small pig, the terms boar (galt) for adult males and gilt for a female that hasn’t yet had piglets are used.
Until about three or four months of age, piglets have stripes. Later, they become reddish-brown and then gradually get the adult dark brown-black coat around one year of age.
A young wild boar that no longer has piglet stripes but hasn’t yet acquired the full adult color is often called a “brown pig” (brungris) by hunters.
Live weight at one year is about 50–70 kg. A two-year-old weighs 70–90 kg, a large sow over 100 kg, and a mature boar over 150 kg. However, weights vary with season and food availability.
Color variations are common in wild boar. Light-colored pigs with dark spots are often seen, as well as light gray, almost silvery animals. This phenomenon is thought to be due to crossbreeding with domestic pigs in earlier generations.

It is often difficult to distinguish males from females while hunting, especially since most wild boar are shot during night-time hunting near feeding stations. It’s important to avoid shooting sows, as they may have piglets any time of year, and the piglets always follow the mother. In a group of wild boar of mixed sizes (usually a sow and her offspring), you should always aim to shoot one of the smaller animals.
Don’t assume a lone animal is a boar—it could just as well be a sow temporarily away from her piglets.

It is particularly difficult to tell the sexes apart in younger wild boars. The boar’s “pencil” (penis sheath) is not clearly visible, and he hasn’t developed typical male features yet.
But once a boar reaches four to five years of age, these features become obvious. He will be compact and tall at the shoulders with a narrow back and steep rump. The head is massive and not wedge-shaped like the sow’s.
Unfortunately, few Swedish boars live long enough to fully develop their sexual characteristics.
The boar’s tusks are considered the hunter’s trophy. They grow throughout life. The tusks in the upper and lower jaw grind against each other, keeping the edge razor sharp.
They are deadly weapons, which a boar won’t hesitate to use in tight situations. The part you see sticking out of the mouth is just a small portion of the tusk. About two-thirds of the tusk is hidden in the jaw of a younger boar, and around half in an older one.
A tusk from a mature boar is often over 20 centimeters long. He’s usually about seven years old.
In October, wild boar grow a thick winter coat with plenty of underfur. It sheds in May–June and is replaced by a summer coat, which reveals body contours and sexual features more clearly.

SENSE ORGANS AND SOUNDS
The sense of smell is very well developed. Hearing is also very good, while vision is weaker.
Wild boars use a variety of vocalizations. Adults emit heart-rending screams when they fight or are disciplined by an older group member.
If danger is detected, a warning grunt is given, and the entire group flees immediately.
At the slightest suspicion of danger, the lead sow will react with a long snort, causing the whole group to turn and trot away.

REPRODUCTION
Wild boars do not have a fixed mating season, but most mating takes place in October–December. A wild sow can give birth at any time of year, but litters of five piglets are most common.
Under good conditions, a sow may have three litters in two years. Not all piglets survive, of course, but the reproductive potential is still remarkable for such a large mammal. Most piglets are born between February and April, four months after mating.Before giving birth, the sow gathers plant material and builds a nest to protect the piglets. These weigh less than one kilo at birth.
How long they stay in the nest before following the sow depends on the weather and can vary from a few days to several weeks.

The sow typically has ten teats. By checking whether the teats are drawn (i.e., used and stretched), one can determine whether a sow is nursing piglets.
Each piglet has its own teat. So, if a sow has four drawn teats, she is nursing four piglets. If a sow dies and her piglets are orphaned, they usually cannot nurse from another sow, since her teats are occupied by her own piglets.

Feeding
Wild boars are omnivores. Unlike deer species, they are not ruminants. They root in the ground for worms, insect larvae and other small animals, as well as roots and tubers of plants, and they are very fond of grains. Small rodents, frogs and bird eggs are also on the menu, as well as carrion. Acorns from oak and beech trees are high on their list of favorites, and good acorn years reduce visits to feeding sites and cultivated fields.
Wild boars do not cause damage to forestry. On the contrary, their rooting actually helps the regeneration of especially beech and oak. However, wild boars can cause major damage to agriculture. It mainly affects fields with wheat, oats, maize, peas, potatoes and sugar beets, as well as hay meadows.
When the grain in midsummer becomes milky ripe — that is, when the kernels are filled with watery content — it is especially attractive to wild boars.
In cereal crops, the damage is not limited to what the wild boars eat. They also trample down the crops and create resting spots. Rooting in hay fields results in an uneven surface. Soil can be picked up during mowing, and the ensiling process in bales is then affected by soil bacteria, reducing the quality. There are various ways to protect crops from wild boar damage. Electric fences are effective. Distraction feeding at specific feeding sites where the animals are never hunted also works well. The feed should be spread thinly over as large an area as possible to keep the boar busy.

Selective hunting where the boar cause damage is another good way to reduce wild boar damage. However, you should only shoot a smaller pig each time. The lead sow will then keep her group away from that particular field for a while.
But if the lead sow is shot, the group becomes disorganized for a long time. Less experienced group members are forced to look for food on their own and will naturally focus on agricultural crops. The damage then becomes even worse, and the boar harder to scare away through hunting.

TRACKS AND SIGNS
Even though wild boar are discreet and do not like to be seen in daylight, they are generous with signs of their presence.
Their tracks are distinctive because the impressions of their dewclaws always show. These prints are set wider apart than the actual hooves. In contrast, the dewclaws of deer species sit directly behind the hooves.
Rooted-up areas in the forest, on meadows, or along forest roads and grassy edges are clear signs. Wallows in damp areas, where the boar roll to rid themselves of parasites, are another sign, as are trees where the boar have rubbed against the trunk.
Their droppings vary depending on diet but most often consist of a roughly five-centimeter thick sausage made up of small pellets about a centimeter in diameter.

HUNTING AND MANAGEMENT
Most wild boar harvested in Sweden are shot during baited ambush hunts. Still hunting in fields where boar cause damage is also common, as are driven hunts and hunts with short-range or baying dogs.
Hunting should primarily focus on yearlings (“brown pigs”), which should make up about three-quarters of the total harvest. Of the remainder, most should be last year’s young, mainly female yearlings. Only a very small portion should be adult boars.
With this harvest philosophy, you get the best meat quality — older sows and especially old boars yield significantly lower quality meat than young pigs. Additionally, the population becomes more stable and home-ranging, since the older sows are allowed to live, while young boars get a chance to mature into trophy-quality males.

DISEASES IN WILD BOAR

All the diseases that domestic pigs can contract can also be found in wild boar.
TRICHINOSIS. Infections with the parasite Trichinella are a current concern due to the risk of human infection. The parasite is commonly found in foxes and badgers, but is also present in red wolves, small rodents, and wild boar. However, in these animals, the parasite does not cause the type of symptoms seen in humans. When a predator, wild boar, or human eats raw meat containing trichinae, the parasites are released in the intestines. They develop there and the larvae migrate through the body, where they encyst in muscle tissue. This phase is very painful for humans. The disease can be deadly because the respiratory muscles may be affected. Trichinae occur only sporadically in wild boar in Sweden, and all hunted wild boar should always be tested for trichinae.

CLASSICAL SWINE FEVER does not occur in Sweden, but is present in wild boar populations in the Baltics and on the European continent. Swine fever is caused by a highly resilient virus that can reach Sweden through meat products or improperly treated hunting trophies. If swine fever were to affect Sweden, society would need to take drastic measures to eradicate the disease.

Another serious disease found in wild boar on the continent is BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. This disease can be transmitted to humans and severely complicates the handling of wild boar meat.

SUMMARY

• The wild boar has spread explosively since it was reintroduced to Sweden in the latter part of the 20th century.
• Wild boars are mainly nocturnal, but they also appear during bright summer evenings.
• During the day, wild boars seek cover in dense and preferably moist forest areas, reed beds, and similar places.
• Boars (males) go off on their own when they reach sexual maturity, while sows (females) and piglets stay together in groups led by an experienced sow.
• It is often difficult to distinguish between the sexes. Look for enlarged teats, which indicate a protected, piglet-rearing sow.
• Unlike other cloven-hoofed game, wild boars do not have a fixed mating season, and a sow can therefore have piglets almost any time of the year. Most are born in February–April.
• The boar’s tusks grow throughout its life and can exceed 20 centimeters in length. Most of the tusk lies hidden in the upper jaw.
• The sense of smell and hearing are highly developed, while vision is weaker.
• Wild boars are omnivores that search for food on and in the ground. They can cause significant damage to agricultural crops, but in forests, they are considered beneficial.
• Three quarters of the wild boars harvested should be yearlings (known as “brungrisar”), and most of the rest should be second-year pigs. Adult sows and medium-sized boars should be spared.
• All wild boar meat should be tested for trichina (trichinella).