Editing Wild boar (section)

== Behaviour and ecology ==
=== Habitat and sheltering  ===
[[File:Wild Boar Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary East Sikkim India 19.10.2015.jpg|thumb|An individual from higher ridges of Himalayas at {{cvt|9600|ft|m|order=flip}} in [[Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary]], Sikkim, India]]
[[File:Wild Boar Habbitat 2.jpg|thumb|Wild boars frequently wallow in mud, possibly to regulate temperature or remove parasites]]
The wild boar inhabits a diverse array of [[habitat]]s from boreal [[taiga]]s to [[desert]]s.<ref name=heptner1988 /> In mountainous regions, it can even occupy [[Alpine climate|alpine]] zones, occurring up to {{cvt|1900|m|ft}} in the [[Carpathians]], {{cvt|2600|m|ft}} in the [[Caucasus]] and up to {{cvt|3600|-|4000|m|ft}} in the mountains in [[Central Asia]] and [[Kazakhstan]].<ref name=heptner1988 /> In order to survive in a given area, wild boars require a habitat fulfilling three conditions: heavily brushed areas providing shelter from predators, water for drinking and bathing purposes and an absence of regular snowfall.<ref name="marsan55" />

The main habitats favored by boars in [[Europe]] are [[Temperate deciduous forest|deciduous]] and [[Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest|mixed forests]], with the most favorable areas consisting of forest composed of [[oak]] and [[beech]] enclosing [[marsh]]es and [[meadow]]s. In the [[Białowieża Forest]], the animal's primary habitat consists of well-developed [[Broad-leaved tree|broad-leaved]] and mixed forests, along with marshy mixed forests, with [[Pinophyta|coniferous]] forests and undergrowths being of secondary importance. Forests made up entirely of oak groves and beeches are used only during the fruit-bearing season. This is in contrast to the Caucasian and [[Transcaucasia]]n mountain areas, where boars will occupy such fruit-bearing forests year-round. In the mountainous areas of the [[Russian Far East]], the species inhabits [[Pine|nutpine]] groves, hilly mixed forests where [[Mongolian oak]] and [[Korean pine]] are present, swampy mixed taiga and coastal oak forests. In [[Transbaikal]]ia, boars are restricted to river valleys with nut pine and shrubs. Boars are regularly encountered in [[pistachio]] groves in winter in some areas of [[Tajikistan]] and [[Turkmenistan]], while in spring they migrate to open deserts; boar have also colonized deserts in several areas they have been introduced to.<ref name=heptner1988 /><ref name="marsan55">{{Harvnb|Marsan|Mattioli|2013|pp=55–58}}</ref><ref>Long, J. L. (2003), ''Introduced Mammals of the World: Their History, Distribution and Influence'', Cabi Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-85199-748-3}}</ref>

On the islands of [[Komodo (island)|Komodo]] and [[Rinca]], the boar mostly inhabits savanna or open monsoon forests, avoiding heavily forested areas unless pursued by humans.<ref name="auffenberg1981" /> Wild boar are known to be competent swimmers, capable of covering long distances. In 2013, one boar was reported to have completed the {{convert|7|mi|km|order=flip|0|adj=on}} swim from [[France]] to [[Alderney]] in the [[Channel Islands]]. Due to concerns about disease, it was shot and incinerated.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-24932170 |publisher=BBC News |title=Alderney wild boar that swam from France shot over disease fear |date=14 November 2013 |access-date=22 June 2018 |archive-date=29 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429184220/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-24932170 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Wild boar rest in shelters, which contain insulating material like [[spruce]] branches and dry [[hay]]. These resting places are occupied by whole families (though males lie separately) and are often located in the vicinity of streams, in swamp forests and in tall grass or shrub thickets. Boars never defecate in their shelters and will cover themselves with soil and pine needles when irritated by insects.<ref name=baskin2003 />

=== Diet ===
[[File:Scavenger feast - Yala December 2010 (2).jpg|thumb|Male Indian wild boar feeding on a [[chital]] (''Axis axis'') carcass]]
The wild boar is a highly versatile [[omnivore]], whose diversity in choice of food is comparable to that of [[human]]s.<ref name=marsan70/> Its foods can be divided into four categories:
* [[Rhizome]]s, [[root]]s, [[tuber]]s and [[bulb]]s, all of which it digs up throughout the year.<ref name=heptner1988 />
* [[Nut (fruit)|Nuts]], [[berries]] and [[seed]]s, which it digs up from under the snow when necessary and consumes when ripened.<ref name=heptner1988/>
* [[Leaves]], [[bark (botany)|bark]], twigs and [[Shoot (botany)|shoot]]s, along with [[garbage]].<ref name=heptner1988/>
* In warm periods, it eats [[earthworm]]s, [[insect]]s, [[mollusk]]s, [[fish]], [[rodent]]s, [[Insectivora|insectivores]], [[bird egg]]s, [[lizard]]s, [[snake]]s, [[frog]]s and [[carrion]].<ref name=heptner1988 />

A {{cvt|50|kg}} boar needs around 4,000–4,500 [[calorie]]s of food per day, though this required amount increases during winter and pregnancy,<ref name=marsan70 /> with the majority of its diet consisting of food items dug from the ground, like underground plant material and burrowing animals.<ref name=heptner1988 /> [[Acorn]]s and [[beech]]nuts are invariably its most important food items in [[Temperate climate|temperate zones]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4351e/y4351e0c.htm |title=FAO Ch.8 |access-date=22 October 2018 |archive-date=22 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022113158/http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4351e/y4351e0c.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> as they are rich in the [[carbohydrate]]s necessary for the buildup of fat reserves needed to survive lean periods.<ref name=marsan70/> In Western Europe, underground plant material favoured by boars includes [[Pteridium aquilinum|bracken]], [[Epilobium|willow herb]], bulbs, meadow herb roots and bulbs and the bulbs of cultivated crops. Such food is favoured in early spring and summer, but may also be eaten in autumn and winter during beechnut and acorn crop failures. Should regular wild foods become scarce, boars will eat tree bark and [[fungi]], as well as visit cultivated [[potato]] and [[artichoke]] fields.<ref name=heptner1988 /> Boar soil disturbance and foraging have been shown to [[Ecological facilitation|facilitate]] [[Invasive species|invasive]] plants.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tierney|first1=T. A. |last2=Cushman |first2=J. H. |date=2006 |title=Temporal Changes in Native and Exotic Vegetation and Soil Characteristics following Disturbances by Feral Pigs in a California Grassland |journal=Biological Invasions |volume=8 |issue=5|pages=1073–1089 |doi=10.1007/s10530-005-6829-7 |bibcode=2006BiInv...8.1073T |s2cid=25706582}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Oldfield|first1=C. A. |last2=Evans |first2=J. P. |date=2016 |title=Twelve years of repeated wild hog activity promotes population maintenance of an invasive clonal plant in a coastal dune ecosystem |journal=Ecology and Evolution |volume=6 |issue=8 |doi=10.1002/ece3.2045 |pmid=27110354 |pages=2569–2578 |pmc=4834338 |bibcode=2016EcoEv...6.2569O}}</ref> Boars of the ''vittatus'' subspecies in [[Ujung Kulon National Park]] in Java differ from most other populations by their primarily frugivorous diet, which consists of 50 different fruit species, especially [[Ficus|figs]], thus making them important seed dispersers.<ref name=oliver1993/> The wild boar can consume numerous genera of [[List of poisonous plants|poisonous plants]] without ill effect, including ''[[Aconitum]]'', ''[[Anemone]]'', ''[[Calla]]'', ''[[Caltha]]'', ''[[Ferula]]'' and ''[[Pteridium]]''.<ref name=baskin2003 />

Boars may occasionally prey on small [[vertebrate]]s like newborn [[deer]] fawns, [[Leporidae|leporids]] and [[Galliformes|galliform]] chicks, as well as small [[Cattle|calves]], [[Sheep|lamb]]s and other [[livestock]].<ref name="marsan70" /> Boars inhabiting the [[Volga Delta]] and near some lakes and rivers of Kazakhstan have been recorded to feed extensively on fish like [[carp]] and [[Vobla|Caspian roach]]. Boars in the former area also feed on [[cormorant]] and [[heron]] chicks, [[Juliidae|bivalved molluscs]], trapped [[muskrat]]s and mice.<ref name=heptner1988/> There is at least one record of a wild boar killing and eating a [[bonnet macaque]] in southern India's [[Bandipur National Park]], though this may have been a case of [[intraguild predation]], brought on by [[interspecific competition]] for human handouts.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Gupta, S. |author2=Sinha, A. |title=A wild boar hunting: predation on a bonnet macaque by a wild boar in the Bandipur National Park, southern India |journal=Current Science |volume=106 |issue=9 |date=2014 |pages=1186–1187 |url=http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/106/09/1186.pdf}} {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416021344/http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/106/09/1186.pdf |date=16 April 2015}}</ref> There is also at least one recorded case of a group of wild boar attacking, killing, and eating an adult, healthy female axis deer (''[[Axis axis]]'') as a pack.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Behera |first1=S. |last2=Gupta |first2=R. P. |title=Predation on chital ''Axis axis'' by wild pig ''Sus scrofa'' in Bandhavgarh National Park |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |year=2007 |volume=104 |issue=3 |pages=345–346 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48364346#page/97/mode/1up |access-date=5 December 2020 |archive-date=21 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121064551/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48364346#page/97/mode/1up |url-status=live}}</ref>

Stable isotope analysis of fossil wild boar tooth enamel from the late Middle Pleistocene found in Thailand indicate that it fed on a versatile mixed vegetation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pushkina |first1=Diana |last2=Bocherens |first2=H. |last3=Chaimanee |first3=Y. |last4=Jaeger |first4=J.-J. |date=2010 |title=Stable carbon isotope reconstructions of diet and paleoenvironment from the late Middle Pleistocene Snake Cave in Northeastern Thailand |journal=[[Naturwissenschaften]] |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=299–309 |doi=10.1007/s00114-009-0642-6|pmid=20127068 |bibcode=2010NW.....97..299P }}</ref>
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=== Predators ===
[[File:Tiger's killing wild boar.jpg|left|thumb|[[Tiger]]s killing a wild boar in [[Kanha Tiger Reserve]]]]
Piglets are vulnerable to attack from medium-sized felids like [[Eurasian lynx]] (''Lynx lynx''), [[jungle cat]]s (''Felis chaus''), and [[snow leopard]]s (''Panthera uncia''), as well as other carnivorans like [[brown bear]]s (''Ursus arctos'') and [[yellow-throated marten]]s (''Martes flavigula'').<ref name=heptner1988 />

The [[wolf]] (''Canis lupus'') is the main predator of wild boar throughout most of its range. A single wolf can kill around 50 to 80 boars of differing ages in one year.<ref name=heptner1988 /> In Italy<ref name="marsan96">{{Harvnb|Marsan|Mattioli|2013|pp=96–97}}</ref> and Belarus' [[Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park]], boars are the wolf's primary prey, despite an abundance of alternative, less powerful ungulates.<ref name="marsan96" /> Wolves are particularly threatening during the winter, when deep snow impedes the boars' movements. In the Baltic regions, heavy snowfall can allow wolves to eliminate boars from an area almost completely. Wolves primarily target piglets and subadults and only rarely attack adult sows. Adult males are usually avoided entirely.<ref name=heptner1988 /> [[Dhole]]s (''Cuon alpinus'') may also prey on boars, to the point of keeping their numbers down in northwestern Bhutan, despite there being many more [[cattle]] in the area.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Thinley | first1 = P | last2 = Kamler | first2 = JF | last3 = Wang | first3 = SW | last4 = Lham | first4 = K | last5 = Stenkewitz | first5 = U |display-authors=etal | year = 2011 | title = Seasonal diet of dholes (''Cuon alpinus'') in northwestern Bhutan | journal = Mammalian Biology| volume = 76 | issue = 4| pages = 518–520 | doi = 10.1016/j.mambio.2011.02.003 | bibcode = 2011MamBi..76..518T }}</ref>
[[File:Dragon feeding.png|thumb|[[Banded pig]] (''S. s. vittatus'') being eaten by [[Komodo dragon]]s]]
[[Leopard]]s (''Panthera pardus'') are predators of wild boar in the Caucasus (particularly Transcaucasia), the Russian Far East, India, China<ref name="sovietleopard">{{cite book |author1=Heptner, V. G. |author2=Sludskij, A. A. |name-list-style=amp |orig-year=1972 |year=1992 |title=Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola |trans-title=Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2. Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats) |publisher=Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation |location=Washington DC |chapter=Leopard |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov221992gept#page/248/mode/2up |pages=248–252}}</ref> and Iran. In most areas, boars constitute only a small part of the leopard's diet. However, in Iran's Sarigol National Park, boars are the second most frequently targeted prey species after [[mouflon]] (''Ovis gmelini''), though adult individuals are generally avoided, as they are above the leopard's preferred weight range of {{convert|10|–|40|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Taghdisi | first1 = M. |display-authors=etal |year=2013 |title=Diet and habitat use of the endangered Persian leopard (''Panthera pardus saxicolor'') in northeastern Iran |journal=Turkish Journal of Zoology |volume=37 |pages=554–561 |doi=10.3906/zoo-1301-20 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This dependence on wild boar is largely due in part to the local leopard subspecies' large size.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sharbafi|first1=Elmira |last2=Farhadinia |first2=Mohammad S. |last3=Rezaie|first3=Hamid R.|last4=Braczkowski|first4=Alex Richard |title=Prey of the Persian Leopard (''Panthera pardus saxicolor'') in a mixed forest-steppe landscape in northeastern Iran (Mammalia: Felidae)|journal=Zoology in the Middle East|volume=62|issue=1|year=2016|pages=1–8|doi=10.1080/09397140.2016.1144286|s2cid=88354782}}</ref>

Boars of all ages were once the primary prey of the [[tiger]] (''Panthera tigris'') in Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Middle Asia and the Far East up until the late 19th century. In modern times, tiger numbers are too low to have a limiting effect on boar populations. A single tiger can systematically destroy an entire sounder by preying on its members one by one, before moving on to another sounder. Tigers have been noted to chase boars for longer distances than with other prey. In two rare cases, boars were reported to gore a small tiger and a tigress to death in self-defense.<ref name="soviettiger">{{cite book |author1=Heptner, V. G. |author2=Sludskij, A. A. |name-list-style=amp |orig-year=1972 |year=1992 |title=Mlekopitajuščie Sovetskogo Soiuza. Moskva: Vysšaia Škola |trans-title=Mammals of the Soviet Union. Volume II, Part 2. Carnivora (Hyaenas and Cats) |publisher=Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation |location=Washington DC |chapter=Tiger |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov221992gept#page/174/mode/2up |pages=174–185}}</ref> A "large male tiger" died of wounds inflicted by an old wild boar it had killed in "a battle royal" between the two animals.<ref name="Prynn-1980">{{cite journal | last=Prynn | first=David | title=Tigers and Leopards in Russia's Far East | journal=[[Oryx (journal)|Oryx]] | publisher=[[Fauna & Flora International]] ([[Cambridge University Press|CUP]]) | volume=15 | issue=5 | year=1980 | issn=0030-6053 | doi=10.1017/s0030605300029227 | pages=496–503 | s2cid=86199390| doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|500}}

In the [[Amur River|Amur region]], wild boars are one of the two most important prey species for [[Siberian tiger]]s, alongside the [[Manchurian wapiti]] (''Cervus canadensis xanthopygus''), with the two species collectively comprising roughly 80% of the felid's prey.<ref name=j1>{{cite journal |title=Food habits of Amur tigers in the Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik and the Russian Far East, and implications for conservation |url=http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/Miquelle_Quigley_1996_Food_habits_of_Amur_tigers.pdf |author=Miquelle, Dale G. |journal=Journal of Wildlife Research |year=1996 |volume=1 |issue=2 |page=138 |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101192450/http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/Miquelle_Quigley_1996_Food_habits_of_Amur_tigers.pdf |archive-date=1 November 2012 }}</ref> In [[Sikhote Alin]], a tiger can kill 30–34 boars a year.<ref name=baskin2003 /> Studies of tigers in India indicate that boars are usually secondary in preference to various [[Cervidae|cervids]] and [[Bovidae|bovids]],{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} though when boars are targeted, healthy adults are caught more frequently than young and sick specimens.<ref>{{cite book|title=The deer and the tiger: a study of wildlife in India|author=Schaller, G|year=1967|pages=321|publisher=University of Chicago Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOVGHXfod0wC|isbn=9780226736570|access-date=17 August 2018|archive-date=5 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305145213/https://books.google.com/books?id=KOVGHXfod0wC|url-status=live}}</ref>

On the islands of [[Komodo (island)|Komodo]], [[Rinca]] and [[Flores]], the boar's main predator is the [[Komodo dragon]] (''Varanus komodoensis'').<ref name="auffenberg1981" />
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