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Wild boar, which is also called the boar or boar - an animal that is distinguished by its strength, speed and omnivorousness. He lives in the forest, and his habits are completely different from those of a domestic pig. Yes, and they differ in appearance a lot. It's about this smart animal.
Kinds
Wild boars are subdivided into species according to territorial characteristics: Indian, western representatives, eastern, Indonesian. And there is already a division into nine subspecies: African warthog, Asian boar, European boar, dwarf pig and so on.
Appearance
The wild boar is one of the largest inhabitants of the forest, the animal is distinguished by its power and strength. The physique is large, the legs are short - the height of the wild boar is from 55 to 105-110 centimeters. The body is not very long - from 90 to 180 centimeters, the tail is up to 25 centimeters long, has a wide chest, and the pelvis is rather narrow for such a physique.
A wedge-shaped skull sits on a short, thick neck. The face of the beast is decorated with a distinctive feature of pig-like animals - a nose in the form of a patch. Two long fangs protrude from the mouth, helping to live in the wild. The length of each reaches 20-23 centimeters. Wild boar weighs depending on age and nutrition - from 60 to 320 kilograms. The average weight is about 120-140 kilograms. Males outwardly differ from females only in size - they are larger and slightly heavier.
Like most wild animals, wild boars are covered with wool, which looks like a short bristle that helps not only to warm, but also to mask. On the back, it forms a kind of mane, ending with a crest, which begins to puff up if the animal is excited. With the onset of cold weather, under the bristles a warm thick undercoat grows. The color of the bristles depends on the habitat and can be from coal-black to light brown.
Distribution area
In ancient times, their habitats were much larger, and due to the fact that people mastered new territories and hunted there, the population of wild pigs decreased markedly. Although the boar was able to get to North American territory precisely thanks to man - he specially brought there this species at the end of the 19th century.
Lifestyle and habits
This animal does not see very well, but it has a great sense of smell. It can sense the smell of a beast or a person at a great distance.
The boar is a herd animal, but males prefer to live apart, joining the herd only during the mating season. In total, from a herd from 15 to 30 individuals - females, offspring, weak animals and young animals. Usually in the herd for each male there are three females.
The boar is active at dusk. He goes hunting, seeks food, and bathes. In the afternoon, he prefers to rest in the reed thickets, or in the swamps, buried in the bush. There, he digs a hole with his fangs and sleeps until sunset.
Only the male protects the territory and protects the female with the offspring. Although the female will not give offense to either herself or the children.Let it be smaller and its fangs not so long and strong, but it is able to control the enemy, crushing it with its mass and stomping its hooves.
Wild boars are pretty fast, but somewhat awkward. Great swim and able to overcome long distances. More than 100 kilometers can pass if there is a fire in the territory of residence. Or in search of food.
Nutrition
Wild boar eats everything; he does not have any special preferences. It mainly eats food of plant origin, and it doesn’t matter whether it is on the ground or underground. Having eaten the branches and leaves of the plant, he digs up the earth with a strong muzzle and takes out tubers and bulbs, eats the roots. He eats mushrooms, all kinds of fruits, likes to enjoy berries, and loves acorns. In habitats close to humans, it is not uncommon for whole herds to wander into fields and destroy potatoes and cereals.
They love apples, which are also harvested in orchards cultivated by man. Causing, of course, farmland considerable damage.
They also eat animal food - snails, toads and frogs, larvae, mice and other rodents, hedgehogs. Meeting the nests of birds nesting on the ground on the way, they feed on the nestlings sitting in the nesting area. In the autumn, large boars can even bully a hare or a young weak goat.
With pleasure they eat carrion, they will never pass by.
Breeding
Males reach puberty in the sixth or seventh year of life. In females, she arrives much earlier - at about 1.5 years. The mating season (gon) begins in November and lasts until January. Males for mating joys return to the herd. During this period, they acquire a protective carapace under the skin - the muscle reaches a size of 2-3 centimeters. It is located on both sides and performs a protective function against enemy attacks. Including serves as protection against sharp fangs of the opponent when boars converge, fighting for the female.
During the mating season, this struggle does not stop, the males converge and inflict mutilations and wounds on each other. But these injuries are worth it - the winner can immediately receive several females with whom he will mate.
Pregnancy in a pig lasts approximately 110-120 days, children are born in mid-April. The female leaves away from the herd, builds a den, lining a bed of grass, leaves, moss and branches and awaits the appearance of offspring.
In pigs giving birth for the first time, two or three piglets appear, then she gives birth more - four to five piglets. Although there are cases when 10 cubs were born. Children are born striped, which helps to camouflage themselves perfectly in forest conditions.
The cubs live next to their mother, she feeds them milk for about three to three and a half months. Living with their parents, young people slowly get acquainted with the habits of adults, adopt skills and, at the end of feeding with mother's milk, begin to get food themselves.
At the age of 4.5-5 months, piglets completely darken and turn black.
Enemies
These strong and powerful animals have their enemies. They are all predators that live in the forest. But the most dangerous - wolves, lynxes and bears, they are capable of poisoning the life of the billfish very strongly.
Wolves alone are not able to overcome the boar, so they usually attack the whole flock. It starts with the fact that one of the wolves jumps on a boar and knocks down, dropping to the ground. Then the remaining members of the pack rush to sacrifice.
Lynx mainly attacks young pigs that have fallen off the herd. She jumps on the scruff and back, scratching with her claws and teeth, causing wounds from which the billhook is dying.
The most dangerous enemy is the largest forest animal - a bear. When attacking, he squeezes with strong paws to such an extent that the animal receives numerous fractures, from which it dies.
Breeding
Breeding forest boars at home is very difficult, but it allows you to get delicious meat, a kind of delicacy, in which there are many useful properties.
Wild boars breed well in captivity, are capricious, eat absolutely everything, and gain weight at a fantastic speed. In addition, they naturally have strong immunity, so do not worry that someone from the livestock will die.
What to do when you meet a boar
Wild boars are not too aggressive, so they will never attack a person from whom there are no signs of danger. It’s easier for them to run away when they meet people than to start attacking them. Although there are exception cases, for example:
- If the beast is wounded - moreover, it does not matter where and when the boar received the wound. In this case, the attacks cannot be avoided.
- If there was a meeting with a female taking care of small children, the pig will decide that her offspring are in danger and will begin to zealously protect them.
- When a person performs actions or makes sounds that cause anger in an animal, or if a very hungry billhook learns that tourists have something edible (although animals rarely behave aggressively trying to steal food and food from a person).
If the boar set off in pursuit of a man, then running away from him is a hopeless matter, as bill hooks are very fast animals. If there are trees nearby, you need to climb them and wait for the beast to leave. In this case, one should not scream in his direction and throw any objects. Otherwise, he will get angry more. After some time, the boar will get tired of waiting and leave. If there is a pond not too dangerous for a person nearby, you can try to swim away. After all, this resident of the forest does not swim as fast as he runs.
Fangs and hooves can severely damage a person, so you should avoid direct contact with the boar.
Interesting Facts
- Wild boars are quite sensitive to temperature extremes. So that the sun does not burn the skin, they wallow in the mud, carefully smearing the body. The dried mud peel also serves as protection against bites of blood-sucking insects.
- During the day, the wild boar eats about six kilograms of food.
- Not only predators, but also natural disasters cause great damage to young boars. Many children died due to forest fires, floods and floods.
- So that the number of wild pigs does not decrease sharply, a person often feeds these animals during severe cold winters. For this, special briquettes are used, consisting of meat-and-bone nutritious flour or root vegetables - potatoes and rutabaga. Such treats are placed in special places, and pigs support the strength of these gifts.
- It is very important for boars that there should be some kind of reservoir near their rookery. People have the impression that these animals are unclean. Domestic pigs - maybe. And the wild ones constantly bathe, and wallow in the mud only to protect the skin from sunlight and forever bothering mosquitoes.
- Man has learned to use the ability of a wild boar to dig in the ground in search of food in his own interests: the French and Italians teach pigs to look for valuable, expensive mushrooms called truffles.
- Humanity has long loved the hunt for wild boars. This business is interesting and rather complicated. They hunt in different ways: they drive the billhooks with dogs, watch over the places where the pig drinks or feeds, shoot from towers or helicopters.
Different stories tell about how furious the angry or cornered boar is so fierce. There are cases when a tiger that attacked a wild boar was killed by him.
Video: wild boar (Sus scrofa)
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