Wild boar (Sus scrofa vittatus) juvenile

The banded pig (''Sus scrofa vittatus'') also known as the Indonesian wild boar is a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

native to the

Thai-Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The ar ...

and many

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n islands, including

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, and the

Lesser Sundas The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up ...

as far east as

Komodo Komodo may refer to: Computers * Komodo Edit, a free text editor for dynamic programming languages * Komodo IDE an integrated development environment (IDE) for dynamic programming languages * Komodo (chess), a chess engine People * Komodo ...

. It is known as the wild boar in Singapore. It is the most basal subspecies, having the smallest relative brain size, more primitive dentition, and unspecialised cranial structure.Hemmer, H. (1990), ''Domestication: The Decline of Environmental Appreciation'', Cambridge University Press, pp. 55-59, It is a short-faced subspecies with a white band on the muzzle, Groves, C. (2008). ''Current views on the taxonomy and zoogeography of the genus Sus.'' pp. 15–29 ''in'' Albarella, U., Dobney, K, Ervynck, A. & Rowley-Conwy, P. Eds. (2008). ''Pigs and Humans: 10,000 Years of Interaction''. Oxford University Press. as well as sparse body hair, no underwool, a fairly long mane, and a broad reddish band extending from the muzzle to the sides of the neck.Groves, C. P. et al. 1993. The Eurasian Suids ''Sus'' and ''Babyrousa''. In Oliver, W. L. R., ed., ''Pigs, Peccaries, and Hippos - 1993 Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan'', 107-108. IUCN/SSC Pigs and Peccaries Specialist Group, It is much smaller than the mainland '' S. s. cristatus'' subspecies, with the largest specimens on Komodo weighing only 48 kg.Affenberg, W. (1981), ''The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor'', University Press of Florida, pp. 248, In some areas, it differs from most other boar populations by being highly

frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance and ...

, with specimens in

Ujung Kulon National Park Ujung Kulon National Park is at the westernmost tip of Java, in Banten province of Indonesia. It includes the volcanic island group of Krakatoa in Lampung province, and other islands including Panaitan, as well as smaller offshore islets such as ...

in Java eating around 50 different fruit species, especially

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

s, thus making them important seed dispersers.Oliver, W. L. R. et al. 1993. The Eurasian Wild Pig (''Sus scrofa''). In Oliver, W. L. R., ed., ''Pigs, Peccaries, and Hippos - 1993 Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan'', 112-121. IUCN/SSC Pigs and Peccaries Specialist Group, On the islands of

and

Rinca Rinca, also known as Rincah, Rindja, Rintja and Pintja, is a small island near Komodo and Flores island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, within the West Manggarai Regency. It is one of the three largest islands included in Komodo National Park. Th ...

, its diet is more varied, encompassing roots, tubers, grasses, insects, fruits, snakes, and carrion. It also frequently eats crabs during low tide. Piglets are born from December to March in litters of two to six, and are raised in grass nests constructed by their mother. They are much less vividly striped than the young of '' S. s. scrofa''. On the islands of Komodo, Rinca, and

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

, the banded pig is a primary food source for

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3978215 Mammals described in 1828 Suidae Wild boars Mammals of Indonesia