Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758

The Wild boar, also known as wild pig, is widely distributed across the world. While the adult males are solitary outside the breeding season, the females and offspring live in groups called sounders. They are the main food source for tigers in regions where they coexist.

Sus scrofa cristatus Wagner, 1839 ; Sus scrofa davidi Groves, 1981

The period of gestation is about 4 mouths, and they, sometimes at all events, breed twice in the year; the number of young is usually 4 to 6 in S. scrofa.

Adult animals measure about 5 feet from nose to vent; tail 8 to 11.5 in., with hair a foot or more; ear 5.5 in. Height 2S to 36 inches at the shoulder . Males are larger than females. Weight of adults from about 200 to considerably over 300 lb. (4 maunds). The lower tusks in a large hog are said to have measured 12 inches in length, including the portion embedded in the jaw, but they rarely exceed 9.

A crest of lengthened black bristles from the nape along the back. Hair coarse and bristly throughout, thin on the sides, and still thinner below. No woolly underfur. Tail extending nearly to hocks, scantily haired except at the tip, which is compressed and fringed on each side. Ears thinly clad externally, more thickly within. The last lower molar always, and the last upper molar generally, longer than the two preceding molars together. Mammae 6 pairs. Colour. Black, more or less mixed with rusty brown or whitish ; young animals browner, old animals greyish. The young, when just born, are light fulvous brown, with longitudinal stripes of dark brown.

The Indian wild boar is found during the day in high grass or bushes, sometimes in forest and often in high crops—the females and young as a rule associating in herds or "sounders" usually of ten or a dozen, and rarely exceeding about twenty individuals, whilst the adult males keep apart. They roam about and feed on various vegetable substances in the morning and evening. They are partial to marsh, and feed largely on the roots of plants growing- in swampy places especially, according to Jerdon, on those of a sedge that is found on the edges of tanks. They turn up the soft ground with their snouts when rooting about for food, and leave marks easily recognized. No animals are more destructive to crops. The food of wild pigs is, however, not absolutely restricted to vegetables ; they have several times been observed to feed on dead animals, and Mr. Peal states that in Assam they dig out and eat the fish that bury themselves in mud during the dry season. Wild pigs feed much at night, but they are less nocturnal in tracts where they can feed without disturbance after sunrise. The speed of a wild pig is considerable, but not for a long distance. A boar is perhaps the most courageous of all wild animals, and generally fights to the death. Several instances are on record of desperate fights between a large boar and a tiger, and in not a few the tiger has been killed. Wild pigs have a habit of cutting grass and making a kind of shelter in which they are said to leave the young. Old boars may sometimes be found in these lairs, as Simson states in his 'Letters on Sport in Eastern Bengal.'

According to Blanford (1888) "The tame pig of India is doubtless derived from the wild animal and probably breeds with the latter in places. I have more than once seen a litter of tame young pigs striped ; and as this peculiarity is wanting in tame animals generally, such litters may have been the produce of tame sows by wild boars."

Seen in forests and grasslands in the plains and hills

IUCN Redlist Status: Least Concern

IUCN redlist Status: Least Concern

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1 Year Published: 2008

Habitat destruction, Hunting.

Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, Schedule - I (A & N Is.)III (Elsewhere)