Boar–pig Hybrid
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Boar–pig hybrid is a hybridized offspring of a cross between the
Eurasian 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 Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
(''Sus scrofa scrofa'') and any
domestic pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...
(''Sus scrofa domesticus'').
Feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...
hybrids exist throughout
Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
,
the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...
, Australia, and in other places where European settlers imported wild boars to use as
game animal Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation ("field sports, sporting"), or for trophy hunting, trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by differ ...
s. In many areas, a variable mixture of these hybrids and
feral pig A feral pig is a domestic pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the g ...
s of all-domesticated original stock (even environmental, agricultural, hunting, and other regulatory agencies often do not bother distinguishing between them) have become
invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...
. Their status as pest animals has reached crisis proportions in Australia, parts of
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, and parts of the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, and the animals are often freely hunted in hopes of eradicating them or at least reducing them to a controllable population. When bred intentionally, the hybrid is intended to visually to the look of pigs represented in prehistoric artworks of the
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
and earlier in ancient Europe. A project to create them, under the name Iron Age pig, started in the early 1980s by crossing a male wild boar with a Tamworth sow to produce an animal that looks like the pig from long ago. Iron Age pigs are generally only raised in Europe for the specialty meat market, and in keeping with their heritage are generally more aggressive and harder to handle than
purebred Purebreds are cultivars of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed. Purebreds breed true-to-type, which means the progeny of l ...
domesticated pigs.


In Australia

Feral pigs in general are considered to be the most important mammalian pest of Australian agriculture (a difficult title to hold, given the country's long-running invasive rabbit problem). However, it is unclear to what extent they are hybrids. Known hybridization between wild and domesticated pigs has occurred naturally in the country for a long time, with populations of the wild boar (imported by European settlers for hunting) freely interbreeding with domestic pigs, either where the latter escaped and became
feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...
, or where there is reasonable access by wild boars to penned pig populations. The appearance and temperament of the wild boar is dominant, and after three generations of interbreeding, most domesticated characteristics disappear. Prior to closure of the meat export market, Australian hunters with the appropriate qualifications and certificates sold hybrid and feral pig meat to be exported to specialty meat markets in Russia and Italy.


In Europe

In Sweden, farmers have reported wild boars breaking into pens and mating with pig sows, even going through electric fences to do so. One pig farmer, Oskar Ohlson, claimed to have over 100 hybrid piglets. These he described as not being aggressive, but jumping when stressed unlike regular pigs.


In North America

Suine hybrids, known as
razorback A feral pig is a pig, domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. The term feral pig has also been applied to wild boars, which can interbreed with domestic pigs. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorb ...
s, range throughout the United States and Canada as feral populations. Their genetic makeup varies widely from area to area, from being all-domestic to a mix of recent domestic with long-feral pigs that have partially reverted to wild traits to an interbreeding of both with wild boars that, as in Australia, were apparently imported for hunting during the colonial era and in the
southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
were definitely re-introduced from Russia for hunting as recently as the 1990s. Razorbacks have been hunted for sport for centuries. Because of their increasing numbers (at least 6 million in 2014, having approximately tripled since 1990), in more recent decades they have been hunted more programmatically to reduce their impact as an
invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...
; they have become a pest animal responsible for significant agricultural and property damage and environmental harm, especially in the U.S.
Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...
from Florida to Texas; ''The Southwestern Naturalist'' estimated about 2.6 million free-roaming porcines in Texas in 2013, which may cast doubt on the 6-million nationwide estimate. A 2014 ''Outdoor Alabama'' article termed them "wildlife enemy number one" in that state. They have become problematic even in cooler, forested northern states (and into Canada); a particular conservation problem is that they strip plant life in woodland areas of their berries and other nutrients needed by the native
American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...
. Wisconsin, for example, imposes no hunting restrictions of any kind on them to promote their elimination. Only a few animals are large enough to prey on hybrid and feral pigs, and are too few in individual numbers to control their population. Free-ranging Eurasian pigs that have also been problematic in Hawaii, a U.S. state in the Pacific Ocean and far from the mainland, are apparently of all-domesticated stock (simply
feral pig A feral pig is a domestic pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the g ...
s, not hybrids) and were initially brought by the islands' original Polynesian settlers, supplemented with introductions by early European visitors.


In South America

Domesticated pigs were introduced to
the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...
and allowed to become feral from the 16th century onward, beginning with
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
in the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
. Actual wild boars were introduced in the early 20th century into Uruguay, again for hunting, and have since spread into Brazil, where they have been deemed an invasive species since at least 1994, especially in
Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...
, Santa Catarina, and
São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
. Since 2005, Brazil has issued
hunting license A hunting license or hunting permit is a regulation, regulatory or law, legal mechanism to control hunting, both commercial and recreational. A license specifically made for game hunting, recreational hunting is sometimes called a game license ...
s for hybrid and feral pigs, and expanded this hunting program in 2008. Unrelated, smaller, and entirely wild suids, known as peccaries or
javelina Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccari ...
s, range throughout Latin America into the U.S. Southwest, are native to western hemisphere, and are not pest animals, though they compete for resources with hybrid and feral pigs. The dynamics between these populations are not yet well studied.
Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
s appear to prefer boar/pig over peccary prey when available.


See also

* Hogzilla


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boar pig hybrid Mammal hybrids Pigs Wild boars