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Species
Sus scrofa (Linnaeus, 1758)
IUCN
NCBI
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A symbiotic relationship between humans and pigs may have been what initiated their domestication, occurring as early as 10,000 B.C. in Thailand. Other sources place the time and place of domestication at 4900 B.C. in China. Sus scrofa may have used early gardens and garbage piles as food sources and humans took advantage of these pigs as a food source.
Sus scrofa has provoked mixed sentiments throughout history, from reverence to fear. In medieval Europe Sus scrofa was a popular carving in stone churches. They have also been regarded as a symbol of fertility and good luck. Others have not reacted so positively to Sus scrofa. Some saw the curly tail as connected to the devil. Jewish and Muslim traditions maintain strong taboos against the consumption of pork. Such adverse reactions may have originated because of the diseases associated with uncooked pork.
Domestic pigs are considered intelligent animals, more so than dogs. Circus trainers have characterized Sus scrofa individuals as quick learners with a substantial memory. Not only can they perform repetitive circus tricks, such as jumping through hoops and walking tightropes, but they can also solve simple problems such as opening a bolted door. Ivan Pavlov, the reknowned physiologist, first used pigs to perform some of his experiments, but eventually switched to dogs for reasons of temperament. It is also believed that Sus scrofa speaks a rudimentary language composed of calls, snorts, sniffs, and whistles.
Recently, Sus scrofa has been making the transition from an outdoor animal kept in the barn to an indoor pet. Miniature breeds have become popular pets.
(Hedgepeth, 1978; Hopf, 1979; vanLoon, 1979)
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Type for Sus scrofa
Catalog Number: USNM 123918
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Division of Mammals
Sex/Stage: Male;
Preparation: Skin; Skull
Collector(s): W. Abbott
Year Collected: 1903
Locality: Pulo Terutau, Satun, Thailand, Asia
- Type: Miller, G. S. 1906 Jun 13. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 30: 746.
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Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/mammals/?irn=7246382 |
Comments: Feeds opportunistically on various plant/animal foods--nuts, roots, tubers, grasses, fruit, berries, also invertebrates, small vertebrates, and carrion. Tears up vegetation and soil surface while foraging.
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May breed year-round; usually there are seasonal peaks. Gestation 108-123 days. Litter size ranges up to 12 (average 4-6 in California, 5-8 in the southeastern U.S.). Average of 2 litters/year in California. Sexually mature usually in less than 1 year (male may not breed until more than 1 year old).
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Management Requirements: Management usually is aimed at reducing population size (and thus environmental damage) through hunting or live-trapping/relocation, but in Florida efforts have been made to prevent depletion of hog populations in areas with heavy hunting pressure. See Sweeney and Sweeney (1982), Wood and Barret (1979).
See Choquenot et al. (1990) for information on the use of the anticoagulant warfarin for feral pig control. Hone and Stone (1989) compared pig management in Australia (used warfarin) and in Hawaii (used exclusion fencing, hunting, snaring, trapping); in Hawaii, eradiacation was achieved in some areas.
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Feral swine, also known as feral pigs or wild boars, is a designation that can be applied to introduced Eurasian boars, escaped or released domestic pigs, and cross-breeds of the two. Eurasian boars were introduced to North America as early as 1539 as domestic pigs; additional introductions of other wild Eurasian boar races for hunting occurred through the1800’s and 1900’s. New York populations of feral swine have most likely emerged from escaped and abandoned Eurasian boars kept in captivity and at hunting preserves. Feral swine crossbreed readily with domestic pigs, which has resulted in a wide range of coat colors and body shapes. Many look like typical wild boars, while others may be hard to distinguish from domestic pigs. Known breeding populations of feral swine in NY (2011) include northwest Cortland, southwest Onondaga, and southern Tioga counties. Pennsylvania also has well established populations in 18 or more counties. Swine may be seen in several Southern Tier border counties with Pennsylvania. Feral hogs have also been observed in a few upstate counties associated with hunting preserves.
Biology
Feral pigs can breed at any time with a gestation of 115 days. A female is sexually mature at 1 year of age. Litter sizes range from 1-8 piglets; sows aggressively protect their young. Due to their hardiness and ability to adapt to a wide range of weather conditions and food sources, feral swine can triple their population in a year. Sows average 110 pounds and boars 130 pounds, but can reach up to 400 pounds. They can be spotted, belted, or striped, entirely brown or domestic looking. Their razor sharp tusks can be 5 inches long before breaking or wearing down. Swine use their tusks to defend themselves and to establish dominance. In NY, the adults have few predators to control herd size.
Impacts Feral swine (Sus scrofa) have a list of environmental, agricultural and human impacts including:
- Tearing up farm and forest land as they root and wallow, destroying acres of agricultural land and crops in just a few days.
- Carrying diseases transmittable to domestic pigs and humans, including swine brucellosis, pseudo-rabies, trichinosis and leptospirosis.
- Competing with wildlife for food.
- Fouling water supplies.
- Feeding on fawns, ground nesting birds and reptiles, and even young livestock.
- Destroying wildlife habitat and sensitive natural areas
- Contributing to erosion and water quality issues.
- Serving as a highway hazard; swine eyes do not reflect in light at night.
- Displaying aggressiveness toward humans with the potential to cause harm.
Signs of Feral Swine
Feral swine are nocturnal; rooting and wallowing in fields and forests, eating crops and hunting. They can decimate acres of fields and gardens every night. Their rooting furrows, 2 to 8” deep, leave a “plowed” look to the landscape. Their tracks and impressions of their coarse hair can be seen at wallowing holes, creeks and mud holes. After wallowing, which can destroy habitat, they often rub the mud onto nearby trees. Swine tracks are similar to deer tracks, but more rounded. Swine scat can resemble deer, dog and human scat.
Management
In New York, anyone with a small game license may hunt and keep feral swine year round with no limit. To prevent the spread of disease, wear plastic or rubber gloves while dressing the animal, and bury the offal. Do not feed raw meats or organs to pets or livestock and thoroughly cook the meat before consuming. Feral swine may be excluded from gardens and domestic hog pens with very heavy duty fencing, but since they can burrow, fencing should be monitored. Domestic swine should be securely enclosed. Shooting can be used to remove one or two feral hogs, but trapping is recommended for removing family groups. Specially-designed corral traps with heavy metal fencing and mechanical doors are needed to capture free-ranging swine.
Reporting
If you see, shoot, or trap feral swine please report it to your regional NYS DEC Wildlife office http://www.dec.ny.gov/about/50230.html. It is important that natural resource managers know where the swine are. Feral swine are a threat to New York’s landscape and agriculture. They can cause an immense amount of damage in a short period of time and can transmit disease. Please do not intentionally release swine into the wild for hunting and keep an eye out for escaped domestic pigs. Eradication of feral swine is important.
- Curtis, Paul, Associate Professor, Extension Wildlife Specialist, Cornell University. E-mail conversation. August 6, 2011.
- Perry, Adam. Wildlife Biologist, New York State Department of Conservation. Phone and e-mail conversation. August 3 and 4, 2011
- USDA. 2010. 2010 Status of Feral Swine in New York State. USDA, APHIS-Wildlife Services, Castleton, NY. 19pp.
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Rights holder/Author | Tracy Barbaro, Tracy Barbaro |
Source | http://www.nyis.info/index.php?action=invasive_detail&id=18 |
Type for Sus scrofa
Catalog Number: USNM 114415
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Division of Mammals
Sex/Stage: Female;
Preparation: Skin; Skull
Collector(s): W. Abbott
Year Collected: 1902
Locality: Banjak Islands, Pulau Tuangku, Sumatra, Aceh, Indonesia, Asia
- Type: Lyon, M. W. 1916 Dec 30. Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 52: 453.
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Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/mammals/?irn=7243689 |
Feral pigs are omnivorous. They use their tusks to root through the ground in search of roots, tubers, bulbs, worms, insects, slugs and snails, and other dietary items. Additionally they will consume fallen acorns and other nuts, frogs, lizards and snakes, rodents and other vulnerable mammals, and bird eggs (Lowery 1974, Bratton et al. 1982, Laycock 1984, Baber and Coblentz 1987, Gingerich 1994). Feral pig feeding activity can impact population desities of preferred prey types (Meads et al. 1984).Feral pigs are highly adaptable and opportunistic in terms of diet, and seasonal dietary shifts occur as food items become either scarce or more abundant. For example, Wood and Roark (1980) note that in South Carolina feral pig populations, acorns and other nuts and fruits make up the bulk of the diet in the fall and winter when they are abundant. In the spring, pigs shift to foliage and herbaceous vegetation, and to tubers and roots in the summer. As a result of these dietary shifts, the degree of destructiveness caused by rooting can also vary by season.
- Arrington D., Toth, L., and J. Koebel Jr. 1999. Effects of rooting by feral hogs, Sus scrofa L. on the structure of a flood plain vegetation assemblage. Wetlands 19:535-544.
- Baber D.W., and B.E. Coblentz. 1986. Density, Home Range, Habitat Use, and Reproduction in Feral Pigs on Santa Catalina Island. Journal of Mammalogy 67:512-525.
- Baber D.W. and B.E. Coblentz. 1987. Diet, Nutrition, and Conception In Feral Pigs On Santa Catalina Island. Journal Of Wildlife Management 51:306-317.
- Belden R.C. 1993. Feral Hogs: The Florida Experience. Paper in Feral Swine: A Compendium For Resource Managers (Hanselka C.W. and J.F. Cadenhead, Eds.), Proceedings of a March 24-25, 1993 Kerrville, TX Conference.
- Belden R.C., and M.R. Pelton. 1975. European wild hog rooting in the mountains of east Tennessee. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Game and Fish Commissioners 29:665-671.
- Bratton S.P., M.E. Harmon, and P.S. White. 1982. Patterns Of European Wild Boar Rooting In The Western Great Smokey Mountains. Castanea 47:230-242.
- Coblentz B.E. and D.W. Baber. 1987. Biology and control of feral pigs on Isla Santiago, Galapagos, Ecuador. Journal of Applied Ecology. 24:403-418.
- Diong C.H. 1982. Population biology and management of the feral pig (Sus scrofa L.) in Kipahulu Valley, Mauil. Unpublished dissertation.
- Fenner F.J.. Gibbs E.PJ., Murphy F.A., Rott R., M.J. Studdert, and D.O. White (eds.). 1993 Veterinary Virology (2nd ed.). Academic Press, Inc.
- Ford M. and J. Grace. 1998. Effects of vertebrate herbivores on soil processes, plant biomass, litter accumulation and soil elevation changes in a coastal marsh. J. of Ecol. 86:974-982.
- Frederick J. 1998. Overview of Wild Pig Damage in California. Vertebrate Pest Conference 18:82-86.
- Gauss C.I., Dubey J.P., Vidal D., Ruiz F., Vicente J., Marco I., Lavin S., Gortazar C., and S. Almeria. 2005. Seroprevalence Of Toxoplasma Gondii In: Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa) From Spain. Veterinary Parasitology 131:151-156.
- Gingerich J.L. 1994. Florida's Fabulous Mammals. World Publications. Tampa Bay. 128 p.
- Green D.F., and F. Ortiz. 1982. Status of sea turtle populations in the central eastern Pacific. In K. Bjornadal (ed.), Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles, pp. 221-233, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
- Hampton J.O., Spencer P.B.S., Alpers D.L., Twigg L.E, Woolnough A.P., Doust J., Higgs T. and J. Pluske. 2004. Molecular techniques, wildlife management and the importance of genetic population structure and dispersal: a case study with feral pigs. Journal of Applied Ecology 41:735-743.
- Ickes K., Paciorek C.J., and S.C. Thomas. 2005. Impacts of Nest Construction by Native Pigs (Sus scrofa) on Lowland Malaysian Rain Forest Saplings. Ecology 86:1540-1547.
- Ingles L.G. 1965. Mammals of the Pacific States. Stanford University Press. Stanford. 506 p.
- Johnson K.G., R.W. Duncan, and M.R. Pelton. 1982. Reproductive Biology Of European Wild Hogs In The Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Proceedings Of The Annual Conference Of The Southeastern Fish And Wildlife Agencies 36:552-564.
- Kotanen P.M. 1995. Responses of vegetation to a changing regime of disturbance: effects of feral pigs in a Californian coastal prairie. Ecography 18:190-199.
- Laycock G. 1984. Hogs In The Hills. Audubon 86:32-35.Lowery G.H., Jr. 1974. The Mammals of Louisiana and its Adjacent Waters. Louisiana State University Press. 565 p.
- MacFarland C.G., Villa, J., and B. Toro. 1974. The Galapagos giant tortoises (Geochelone elephantopus) Part I: Status of Surviving Populations. Biological Conservation 6:198-212.
- Meads M.J., Walker K.J., and G.P. Elliott. 1984. Status, Conservation, and Management of the Land Snails of the genus Powelliphanta (Mollusca: Pulmonata). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 11:277-306.
- Nowak R.M. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1629 p.
- Peine J. and J. Farmer. 1990. Wild hog management program at Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Vertebrate Pest Conference 14:221-227.
- Sekhar N.U. 1998. Crop and Livestock Depradation caused By Wild Animals in Protect Areas: the Case of Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India. Environmental Conservation 25:160-171.
- Singer F.J., W.T. Swank, and E.E.C. Clebsch. 1984. Effects Of Wild Pig Rooting In A Deciduous Forest. Journal Of Wildlife Management 48:464-473.
- Tisdell C.A.. 1982. Wild pigs: environmental pest or economic resource? Pergamon Press. Sydney, Australia. 445 p.
- Tolleson D., Pinchak W., Rollins D., and L. Hunt. 1995. Feral hogs in the rollings plains of Texas: Perspectives, problems, and potential. Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Conference 12:124-128.
- Van Vuren D. 1984. Diurnal Activity and Habitat Use by feral Pigs on Santa Cruz Island, California. California Fish and game 70:140-144.
- Whitaker J.O., Jr. 1988. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. New York. 745 p.
- Wolf T. and M.R. Conover. 2003. Feral Pigs and the Environment: An Annotated Bibliography. Jack H. Berryman Institute. 56 p.
- Wood G.W. and D.N. Roark. 1980. Food habits of feral hogs in coastal South Carolina. Journal of Wildlife Management 44:506-511.
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"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."
Needs: Woodward and Sponenberg (1992) identified Ossabaw Island pigs as important stores of genetic variation.
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