Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Suidae

 

Size: up to 200 cm in length (head to body).

Weight: - up to 50-90 kg.

 

Key Features: The wild boar is a bulky, massively built suid with short and relatively thin legs.  Head is very large, taking up to one third of the body's entire length. The structure of the head is well suited for digging.  Sexual dimorphism is very pronounced in the species, with males being typically 5-10% larger and 20-30% heavier than females. Males also sport a mane running down the back, which is particularly apparent during autumn and winter.

 

Voice: - The wild boar produces a number of different sounds which are divided into three categories: Contact calls, Alarm calls and Combat calls.

 

Breeding: The breeding period in most areas lasts from November to January, though most mating only lasts a month and a half. The gestation period varies according to the age of the expecting mother. For first time breeders, it lasts 114–130 days, while it lasts 133–140 days in older sows. Farrowing occurs between March and May, with litter sizes depending on the age and nutrition of the mother. The average litter consists of 4-6 piglets, with the maximum being 10-12.

 

Diet: wild boar is a highly versatile omnivore and feed on Rhizomes, roots, tubers, bulbs, Nuts, berries, seeds, Leaves, bark, twigs, shoots, along with garbage. Earthworms, insects, mollusks, fish, rodents, insectivores, bird eggs, lizards, snakes, frogs, and carrion are also taken in warm periods

 

Habitat:   Wild boar is found inhabiting the woodlands of Central Europe, Mediterranean Region (including North Africa's Atlas Mountains) and most of Asia (including India). 

 

Habits: Boars are typically social animals, living in female-dominated sounders consisting of barren sows and mothers with young lead by an old matriarch. Male boars leave their sounder at the age of 8–15 months, while females either remain with their mothers or establish new territories nearby. Sub- adult males may live in loosely knit groups, while adult and elderly males tend to be solitary outside the breeding season.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Distribution in the GoK: reported along the coast of Gulf of Kachchh.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Heptner, V. G. ; Nasimovich, A. A. ; Bannikov, A. G. ; Hoffman, R. S. (1988) Mammals of the Soviet Union, Volume I, Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian Institution Libraries and National Science Foundation, pp. 19-82.

 

IUCN Red List. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41775/0

 

Photo Courtesy

P. Jeganathan, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons