Wild boar

Description

Seen from the side, the body of the wild boar appears stocky and massive. This impression is intensified by the legs, which are short and not very strong compared to the large body mass. In relation to the body, the head also appears almost oversized. It tapers off in a wedge shape towards the front. The eyes lie high up in the head and are directed obliquely forward. The ears are small and surrounded by a rim of shaggy bristles. The short, stocky and not very mobile neck is only visible when wild boars wear their summer coat. In the winter coat, the head appears to merge directly into the rump. From the forehead to over the back runs a crest of long bristles that can be raised.

The body height decreases towards the hind legs. The body ends in a tail that reaches down to the heel joints and is very mobile. With it, the wild boar signals its mood by pendulum movements or by lifting. Seen from the front, the body appears narrow.

The adult male can be distinguished from the female - when viewed from the side - by the shape of the snout. While it is long and straight in the female, it appears shorter in the male.

fur of adult and one-year old animals

The fur of the wild boar is dark grey to brown-black in winter with long bristly outer hairs and short fine woolly hairs. The woolly coat covers the entire body except for some parts of the head and the lower part of the legs.

In spring, the wild boar loses the long, dense winter coat and has a short, wool-free summer coat with light-coloured hair tips. The change of coat takes place over a period of about three months and begins in Central Europe in the months of April to May. Wild boars appear much slimmer in their summer coat. Wild boars of previous years begin to change to winter coat as early as the end of July or beginning of August. In adult wild boars, the change to the winter coat does not begin until September. The change of coat is completed in November.

spotted wild boars

In free-ranging wild boar populations, individuals with black-brown to black spots of different sizes on a lighter background are frequently found. Occasionally, even black-and-white and black-and-brown-and-white spotted wild boars are observed.

fur of the juvenile wild boars

Wild boars adapt to a wide variety of habitats. This is due to the fact that they are omnivorous and can quickly find new food niches. Wild boar's ability to break up the ground gives them access to food that is not available to other large mammals. They are also excellent swimmers and have good thermal insulation, allowing them to adapt to wet areas. However, high snow hinders their locomotion and thus their search for food. Therefore, wild boars are absent in high mountainous areas.

In climatically temperate Central Europe, wild boars develop the highest population density in deciduous and mixed forests, which have a high proportion of oaks and beeches and in which there are marshy regions and meadow-like clearings.

The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildschwein). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 16 September 2021