Wild boar of the year or adult, which is better. Determining the sex and age of a wild boar in natural conditions

Species: Sus scrofa = Boar, wild pig

FIELD SIGNS. DESCRIPTION

The wild boar is a large animal, somewhat awkwardly built, with a massive body and relatively short legs. The muzzle is elongated, cone-shaped, ending in a bare flat cartilaginous “patch”, on which the nostrils open. In autumn, winter and spring, the body of the animal is covered with bristles, especially hard and long (12 - 13 cm) on the ridge, where it forms a mane. Under the bristles there is a thick and soft underfur. Due to the thick underfur, the skin is not wetted, so the wild boar willingly goes into the water (it swims very well) in summer and winter, subcutaneous fat deposits protect it from cooling in the water. In summer, after spring molt, the wild boar is almost devoid of hair, covered only with sparse short bristles.

Moving, the boar relies not only on the 3rd and 4th fingers, but also on the 2nd and 5th. On soft ground, all 4 fingers spread out to increase the footprint.

The tail is short, 25 cm, not twisted. When the animal is calm and digs in the soil, the tail, which is constantly in motion, is lowered down; while running, the boar holds the tail horizontally or lifts it up.

Body length 125 - 175 cm, height at the withers 80 - 100 cm, weight of adults, animals 150 - 270 kg. The cone-shaped, laterally compressed shape of the boar's body with stiff bristles facilitates easy movement in dense thickets. The ears are long and wide. The eyes are small, barely visible from the outside, placed in deep sockets and protected by a tuft of bristly hair. The color of the wild boar is black, red-brown, sandy, silver-gray. Piglets are light brown, with bright longitudinal stripes on the back and sides. Boar skin is white.

The teeth are well developed, especially the canines. The fangs of the upper jaw are relatively short, curved, with their ends directed upwards and to the sides. The trihedral shape of the fangs of the lower jaw grow upwards. They are especially dangerous in three-year-old bulls, at the age of 4-5 they begin to bend back. In bulls, fangs reach a length of 10 cm, fangs of pigs are much smaller. With the age of the beast, the fangs are strongly erased and broken off.

DETERMINATION OF SEX AND AGE IN NATURAL CONDITIONS

By appearance three age groups can be distinguished: piglets (yearlings), gilts (two-year-olds) and adults. It is especially easy to distinguish between piglets and adults, it is more difficult to distinguish gilts, since a large gilt can be confused with a pig.

Piglets are smaller, lighter in color than adults (light color lasts up to a year) and longer legs. In gilts (in the 2nd year of life), withers develop, bristles grow along the back. Adult animals are more massive than gilts, the bristles on the back grow more strongly. This difference is especially well manifested in billhooks.

In the field, it is quite possible to distinguish an adult male from a pig, and not only because the billhooks have long curving fangs (it’s just that the fangs are hard to see at a long distance at dusk), but rather by silhouette. Males are distinguished by a larger head, a massive front part of the body, they have a more developed withers and a more magnificent “mane” along the crest of the back. They look slenderer than females, possibly due to the fact that their body is laterally flattened, while females have a barrel-shaped body.

In young individuals - piglets and gilts - sexual demorphism is poorly developed.

Piglets usually weigh 25 - 45 kg (the weight of the animal largely depends on the feeding conditions and timing of reproduction), gilts - up to 65 - 70 kg (sometimes more with good feed), adult animals: females from 120 to 180, males - from 140 up to 200 kg. The weight of the largest billhooks reaches 260 and more kg.

The most accessible definition of age is by the development of the dental system and the degree of wear. Two works are known for determining the age of the wild boar using this method: for the Western European wild boar (Kozlo, 1975) and for the Ussuri wild boar (Bromley, 1969). Below is a description of the dental system of wild boars of different age groups for the autumn-winter season, i.e., during the hunting period.

Piglets (7 - 11 months) - a total of 36 teeth. By this age, usually the 3rd milk incisor is replaced by a permanent one, and the 1st and 2nd incisors are noticeably erased. The change of milk fangs begins. Anterior roots are still milky, but they begin to wear out. At the 3rd anterior tooth, the chewing surface becomes cone-shaped. At the 1st large molar, by 10-11 months, the chewing tubercles are smoothed out.

Gilts (18 - 23 months) - a total of 40 teeth. By this age, the change of milk teeth to permanent ones usually ends. The second large molar is fully developed.

Two-year-old individuals - a total of 40 - 42 teeth. The 3rd molar begins to develop. The anterior molars are completely differentiated and have erased apices. The fangs of males reach a length of up to 40 mm, in females they are noticeably shorter.

Three-year-old individuals - the number of teeth is 44. The incisors are slightly worn, the wear of the anterior molars increases. The 1st and 2nd posterior teeth begin to wear out.

Four year olds. All teeth have traces of wear, and most importantly, the 3rd posterior tooth begins to smooth out, where dentin lines appear.

Five year olds. At the 1st and 2nd incisors, the upper inner sides are ground off. As a result of erasing, the incisors are shortened. The surfaces of the anterior and posterior molars are heavily worn out, and in the 1st and 2nd molars, the tubercles and folds of enamel are erased, the dentin takes on a star-like shape, this is especially characteristic of the 3rd large molar, although it still has tubercles. In billhooks, transverse furrows are outlined on the upper fangs, which correspond to the age of the beast (this feature does not appear in all individuals).

Six- and seven-year-old individuals. The incisors are strongly sharpened and shortened. The molars are much more worn than in animals of previous ages. In the anterior molars, the dentin appears as dark stripes, in the posterior teeth, small folds begin to wear off, and individual dentin stars are interconnected by dark spots. At the 1st large molar, the crown begins to wear down.

Eight-year-olds and older individuals. Teeth begin to decay and fall out. The 3rd incisors and the 1st and 2nd anterior teeth break off especially often. The fangs gradually become thinner. The crowns of all molars are worn off. In older individuals (10 years and older), the posterior teeth are worn down almost to the gums, and the enamel folds disappear. .

The most convenient and easily accessible (can be used directly in the field) diagnostic signs for determining the age of a wild boar are the development of its milk and their replacement with permanent (definitive), the formation of posterior (molars) teeth and the degree of their wear. This methodological approach has withstood a long test on numerous types of domestic animals and has long been the simplest and generally correct criterion for determining age. It turned out to be quite acceptable also for determining the age of wild ungulates.

To establish a scale of age-related changes in the boar's dental system in order to use it in practice, we collected and studied over 650 skulls belonging to individuals of different sex and age. Among the collected material there were 25 reference skulls of a known age.

When processing the material, all boar skulls were divided into sex and age groups. Age was determined by the state age signs skull and teeth, taking into account the date of shooting of a particular individual and the average date of mass birth of piglets. Although the farrowing of pigs is quite extended, still too early and too late litters, as a rule, die. Therefore, we can assume that any wild boar population consists of well-separated age groups, the interval between which is equal to one year. Knowing the time of mass birth of piglets and the date of shooting of individual individuals, on a sufficiently large and obtained in different time Based on the material, it is possible to determine the sequence of development of milk teeth and their replacement by definitive ones, the formation of molars and the degree of their wear. This allows us to establish a fairly accurate scale of age-related changes in the boar's dental system, which is used later to determine the age of individual individuals.

In addition to changes in the dental system, also taken into account common features the development of the skull, the degree of ossification of some bones, the presence of sutures or boundaries between them, etc.

Objective diagnostic signs, expressed in the regular development of individual elements of the dental system, were taken as the basis for the age indicator of a wild boar up to three years old, and for animals from four years old and older, the age criterion was the indicators obtained by eye measurement of the degree of wear of the crowns of predominantly posterior teeth and by the pattern of dentin exposure .

It should be emphasized that it is not difficult to divide animals into age groups ranging from 1 year to 6 years with an interval of 1 year with sufficient skill. In older groups (over 6 years), age determination with an interval of 1 year is complicated, and therefore we took wider intervals for groups: 6-7, 8-9, 10-12 years, etc.

Based on the order of appearance, change and degree of wear of the teeth, as well as some age characteristics in the structure of the skull, the entire period of postnatal ontogenesis of the wild boar was divided by us into the following ten age groups: I - newborns (1-3 days), II - broods (from 20 days up to 3-4 months), III - yearlings (9-12 months), IV - two-year-olds (19-22 months), V - three-year-olds (32-36 months), VI - four-year-olds (about 4 years), VII - adults (about 5 years old), VIII - 6-7 years old, IX - 8-9 years old, X - 10-12 years old and older.

This hunt is more than one hundred years old. And so many years of talking about this topic. When the word “boar” is used, they represent a large boar with huge fangs, this is how it is depicted on old engravings in hunting scenes (for example, in Rubens’ painting “Hunting for a Wild Boar”), where a whole pack of dogs of various colors is besieging him, and around him both on foot and mounted hunters approach him with spears, spears, roguli, swords, daggers.

The boar grins angrily, one can imagine how he clicks his teeth, how he lunges and scatters the dogs tearing him with short blows of his head. The scene is filled with drama, it is clear that the boar intends to send to the forefathers, if not a couple of hunters, then at least a few dogs.

In our time, rarely anyone dares to get such a boar with melee weapons. Both humans and dogs are sensible enough to fight a big beast like this, and there's also firearms, which allows you to get a large billhook from a safe distance with much less risk. And with a knife, a wild boar is also caught now, but much smaller, mainly underyearlings and gilts (last year), although they are not large, they also belong to the Sus scrofa species, i.e. The boar is ordinary.

They are mined using, in general, the same old hunting technology as in ancient times. Dogs find wild boars, choose the one they like best, if necessary, beat him off from the herd and keep him until the hunter arrives. The hunter approaches and mortally wounds the beast with a special technique. It would seem that nothing complicated, but in this exciting and gambling process there are several components, each of which is important.

These components: dogs, a hunter with his understanding of the process and experience, a knife and, in fact, the boar itself, without which there is no way.

Dogs

- And I heard that you catch dogs in Kizlyar, in the fish row, - I noticed.
“It happens, too,” Antip replied, grinning. “But it’s out of necessity: after all, a lot of dogs, sir, disappear, the right word ... Sometimes such a beast will be attacked that five or six dogs will be spoiled.”

N.N. Tolstoy. "Hunting in the Caucasus"

In our countries, the most common boar dogs are huskies. At the huskies good search, viscosity and anger to the beast. Not every dog ​​has a set of these qualities, therefore they try to make a pack of dogs with different talents that complement each other. All the boar hunters I know say that it is one, as a rule, a male, rarely two huskies hold a boar. The rest help. They can grab, they can spin around, but it is she who chooses the victim and enters the fray. If there is a choice, then the dogs choose the most accessible prey - the yearling. There is no underyearling, then a little larger. The main husky grabs by the lych, by the cheeks, by the ear, by the scruff of the neck, works from the side of the head of the animal, and the helpers spin around and upset by the gacha, by the tail, grab in the crotch. More often, at least two dogs are used, but even one dog can hold a fingerling. Often, large hounds hold and even strangle underyearlings of twenty to thirty kilograms alone. One tall male Russian piebald hound began strangling piglets at the age of one year, continued to do so with great success all season until he was injured by a boar. Gonchak recovered, but stopped racing. I lost interest not only in wild boars, but also in goats, and in hares with foxes. He became a homebody, not a foot in the forest, he guarded the yard. It also happens vice versa, dogs get seriously injured and after that they work with wild boars with even greater desire. But overly brave dogs do not live long, sooner or later close work on an adult boar turns into mortal wounds. Jagdterriers successfully keep underyearlings. A friend of mine had three yagdas that successfully coped with a piglet up to forty kilograms.

As soon as the first wild boar is taken from under the dogs, it becomes important for them to keep the beast until the hunter arrives. As soon as they grabbed the piglet, as soon as the hunter got it, cut it, from that moment on, such a hunt becomes the most desirable for them. Raising such a dog is not easy. Nataska starts from puppyhood, natural culling, regular feeding in the off-season, feeding, vaccinations, treatment for injuries - the dog becomes valuable for the hunter, not just a tool for hunting, but, of course, a friend. Many hunters for the safety of dogs, for greater convenience in hunting, acquire modern systems tracking them. These are GPS transmitters on collars and the main device with a screen in the hunter's hands. The screen shows all the movements of the dog in the area, you can determine whether it is sitting or standing, at what speed it is moving. The hunter, by the nature of the movement of the dog, easily determines what he is doing - whether he is working on the beast, chasing him or is in search. Using the device, you can adjust to the movement of the animal or determine with great accuracy the place of its retention, without even hearing the voices of dogs. With a pair of huskies that have a wide search, viscosity and equipped with a tracking system, the hunter can hunt with a small mobile team and even alone, adjusting to the work of dogs and the course of a wild boar on the device screen.

But despite all the modern appliances, the life of a boar dog is filled with dangers and injuries. A good hunter not only completes and carries with him a serious dog first-aid kit, but also has primary surgical skills, since dogs cut by wild boars have to be sewn regularly.

In addition to huskies, hounds, terriers, as well as other breeds and all kinds of mestizos, in some countries of Europe and America, dogs of fighting breeds are used to hunt wild pigs with a knife: bull terriers, Staffordshire terriers, pit bull terriers, etc. They are distinguished by a strong long grip, and bull terriers are truly “dead”, “crocodile”. With lightning speed and purposefully they cling to the boar in the lych, in the lower jaw or in the cheek, draw in their legs and try to press the head of the beast to the ground with their weight, thereby fixing it quite powerfully and reliably. More often these dogs are used only for this and are released on a wild boar already found by other dogs.

Hunter with a knife

“Meanwhile, Balash calmly sat on the shore and took off his shoes, and having taken off his shoes and rolled up his trousers, just as calmly walked to the boar, which the dogs were still holding, slaughtered him and, passing a rope under his fangs, pulled him ashore.”

Most of the boars who keep huskies and successfully cut the beast from under them live in countryside. This includes huntsmen who conduct driven hunts. They are quite pragmatic people and are not prone to excessive risk and bravado. The underyearling and gilt do not see anything complicated and contradictory in cutting with a knife. Dogs hang on a medium-sized boar, if it is not yet tired, it will spin, it will not let you shoot accurately, you can spoil some of the meat with a shot, and most importantly, there is a big risk of hooking dogs with a charge. Therefore, it is easiest to take a knife and cut. How do they do it? In two steps. First you need to fix the beast, and then inflict damage incompatible with life. One of the common tricks: lift one back leg and prick with a knife under the shoulder blade in the direction of the heart. It must be remembered that the boar's heart is located in the lower third of the sternum, in the middle, between the front legs. Or by knocking the pig on its side (it’s easy to say, knocking it to the side! - one avid boar-keeper advised me to do this: approach the boar only from behind, take it firmly by the tail with the left, and right hand- by the left front leg and roll to the side, holding it with the knee from the side of the back), press it also from the side of the back with the knee and, holding it by the ear, open the jugular vein and carotid artery, making an incision along the neck from the spine to the throat. Having pressed down with a knee or even sitting on horseback, they hold the front leg and prick in the heart through the sternum or under the shoulder blade. Here are practically two main ways to quickly kill a wild boar - in the heart with surrounding vessels or in the neck.

There is one more trick. If the boar is large enough and nimble: by piercing the lungs through the ribs (and preferably several times), you can achieve a quick death of the animal due to air entering the chest and sticking of the lung. The boar will arrive in a few minutes.

The practical skill of picking up is developed and maintained throughout the season constantly. During the season, each boar cuts several young boars and pigs from under the dogs. This hunt continues throughout the period of driven hunting. If at the beginning of the corrals the dogs sway, they are afraid to work in the corn, where most of the wild boars are kept, then by the end they catch them without any problems, and some even kill the pigs on their own. Inveterate hunters slaughter more than ten wild boars from under the dogs during the season. Many are so passionate about this hunt that they go to the paddock with their dogs without a gun, but with a knife. Most of the interviewed boar keepers indicated that only young animals up to two years old are slaughtered from under the dogs.

Boar knife

A boar sword, a palm tree, a spear, a horn, a boar knife - all this can be successfully used even now for hunting wild boar. And apply! In the Czech Republic and in Germany, where hunting with bull terriers is practiced, both the horn, and the boar knife, and dagger-type knives are used to pick up sufficiently large wild boars. Two bull terriers, more often a female and a male (to exclude the possibility of their unforeseen fights among themselves), hold large boars up to one hundred kilograms in weight. The task of the hunter is to approach the beast from behind and, almost sitting on it, grab his free ear with one hand, and with the other strike under the shoulder blade, aiming from above at the heart. After being stabbed, the wild boar shows the strongest activity, and at this time it is necessary to hold it by the ear and press the animal to the ground with its body. Bull Terriers all this time continue to hold him by the head.

In America, Australia, New Zealand, when hunting with dogs, they use a rather large boar knife with a developed guard and a long wide blade. More often, a wild boar, which is held by dogs, is approached from the back side and inflicted a piercing and cutting blow under the shoulder blade, even under the arm, aiming at the heart. And then, without taking out the knife completely, make a few more short cutting blows. If the boar is not very large, then one of the assistants lifts it by the hind leg or both legs, thereby depriving it of support for throws.

When I began to ask our boars about what kind of knives they use for harvesting, two elderly hunters said that they constantly successfully used a sharpened awl made of an iron rod with a blunt end bent in the form of a handle. It was one of the traditional tools for slaughtering domestic pigs. The rest thought about the guard, a comfortable handle to make the blade bigger. Dimensions ranged from 12 to 17 centimeters, but all fantasies and variations ended up like this: in general, the usual hunting knife, but any other that will be with you will do.

If there is no knife, then it is difficult to kill even a small pig. I heard about jamming with improvised means, suffocation, neck twisting and even about trying to impale on a sharp branch ... These horrors can be avoided by having a sharpened "ordinary hunting knife" with you.

Boar and its size

The larger the boar, the more dangerous it is and the less willing to poke a knife into it. Experienced likes also adhere to this point of view. Therefore, when dogs find a healthy or wounded billhook in the forest and bark at it at a reasonable distance, few people have the thought of trying to take the beast with a knife.

One of the hunters told how he received his only injury: “Once a friend wounded a large pig, and I was without a gun, only with a knife, and in the clearing I noticed that a raspberry was moving. I thought the underyearling, and wanted to catch it, but there was a wounded pig. In general, while the dogs arrived, she chewed on my leg. The leg became numb only after a year. And I finished the pig - there was simply no other way out.

And there are hunters who have not received a single injury in more than thirty years of such hunting for a wild boar, each season taking several wild boars from under their dogs. Why? Yes, because they did not even think of going with a knife to a large boar. They hunted precisely underyearlings, rarely gilts, and a wounded large boar was only shot.

There is one more important reason why underyearlings are preferred to large billhooks. Fingerlings are much tastier. Their meat is juicy and tender, moderately fatty, in comparison with the strong-smelling meat of the billhook, which has a rut during driven hunting.

Yet there are determined strong people who take an adult and healthy boar from under their dogs with a knife. For this, of course, we need likes that can stop and keep such a beast. And no less important is knowledge and experience - how to quickly cut big beast. These are rare, enthusiastic specialists in a fairly common and numerous tribe of boars.

In hunting stories, there are references to the fact that a large wounded boar, in the absence of cartridges, was silenced with a stone and blows of sticks on the head, and then they were cut with a knife. I would not recommend this method of supplementation because of its unreliability and great danger to humans.

“At the opening of driven hunting in our area, wild boars live in corn. If there is water in the corn, a non-drying puddle or ditch, then they do not come out of there at all for weeks. After lunch, we decide to redistribute, and most of the hunters are sent to beat the corn. The rooms are at the end of the field. We line up in a chain after 10-12 meters and walk along the rows of corn with a voice, trying to keep the chain. It's dark and warm in the corn. You spread the hard leaves with your hand, but they still touch your face, and then your face itches and itches, almost like from nettles. The rows, closing at the top, form shady corridors along which the wild boars have trampled their paths. Dogs run alongside people. They do not want to get ahead - they feel that the boars have a big advantage in these corn corridors. The shooters are waiting for the appearance of the beast at the edge of the field. Beaters approach, cheerfully shouting. You can hear the rustle, hard leaves move apart. And now, when the shooters are no more than a hundred meters away and it seems that there is no one in the corn, a slight lull sets in. The beaters languidly shout to each other ... Suddenly, under the heart-rending barking of dogs in a small piece of the field, there is a clatter and screech, the hooting of a pig, the herd does not leave the corn into the forest, where the numbers are quietly standing, but turns to the line of beaters and breaks through between people in the opposite direction from acceleration. Pigs are not visible, but very well audible, only a few see for a moment the dark sides slipping in the neighboring rows. It is impossible to shoot accurately. If it weren't for the black muzzled male Laika, who seemed to be a lazy bumpkin before, we would have been left without prey that day. Taking advantage of the turmoil, he grabbed the underyearling, and the rest of the dogs, plucking up courage, fought off the pig from the herd. The hunters who arrived in time for screeching and barking quickly finish the young of the year. The huntsman looks contentedly at the gangster muzzle of the dog: “It’s not for nothing that I bought him for fifty bucks before the corral!” The next day, the dogs dispersed and by lunchtime, they got us two more piglets in the same way.

Russian hunting magazine, January-February 2013

Dimensions and weight of the boar.

At present, in the delta Volga, according to a. a. Lavrovsky (1952), adult males sometimes weigh 250-270 kg. It is characteristic that at the end of the last century, when the wild boar was heavily hunted in the Volga delta, the largest males weighed only 12 pounds (192 kg, -L.S.), while most of the animals weighed 3-7 pounds (48-112 kg). ) (I. Yavlensky, 1875). It should be noted that even in the 18th and 19th centuries, wild boars of larger sizes lived there. For example, P.S. Pallas (1786), speaking of West Kazakhstan animals, notes that they were “extremely large” and weighed up to “15 pounds” ( 240 kg). According to G. S. Karelin (1875), in the 40-50s of the 19th century, two wild boars were caught on the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, which supposedly weighed one 19, and the second - 20 pounds (304 and 320 kg, - A. S. .). The existence of very large wild boars in past centuries is also evidenced by archaeological finds. For example, judging by the materials from the Neolithic Mariupol burial ground (in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov), wild boars that lived in the valley of the river. Miusa, reached huge size(width of the lower fangs up to 3 cm). According to Beauplan, wild boars of "monstrous growth" were found in the Dnieper valley in the 17th century. Large boar sizes in the past, they are also confirmed by the finds of their remains in the peat bogs of the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions (IG Pidoplichko, 1951) - It is obvious that under the direct and indirect influence of anthropogenic factors, the wild boar has been crushed in recent centuries. It is interesting to note that during the same period there was a grinding of bison, red deer, European roe deer and other animals. The chopping up of wild boars continues at the present time, since in any area of ​​\u200b\u200btheir habitat one can hear from many hunters stories that they used to get larger animals than they do now.

In the river valley Syr Darya, according to N. A. Severtsov (1874), males aged 5-8 years weighed 8-10 pounds (128-160 kg) and very rarely up to 12 pounds (192 kg). According to many hunters I interviewed, in the 30s of the current century on the Syr Darya Weight Limit wild boars caught by them reached 240 kg. It is possible that the wild boars used to be larger here too. For example, Skorobogatov (1924), describing the hunting of wild boar in the south of modern Kazakhstan in the last century, wrote that “in the reeds there are wild boars, up to 20 pounds (320 kg). I myself once had to kill a lone man weighing 17 pounds (272 kg).” It is difficult to say how reliable this information is.

On the weight and body size of wild boars that currently live in the lower reaches of the river. Or, you can judge by the data given in the table.

In this area, 11 studied males aged at least 5-6 years weighed (without stomach, intestines and blood) from 80 to 183 kg, and on average - 106.4 kg. If we assume that the full stomach and intestines, as well as blood, all together weigh about 15-20 kg, the live weight of wild boars will vary from 95-100 to 200 kg and average 120-125 kg. In addition, I also examined several dozen billhooks, the live weight of which was approximately 80-150 kg. According to many interviewed hunters, in the lower reaches of the river. Or the maximum weight of gutted males very rarely reaches 205-220 kg; thus, their live weight was 220-240 kg. The weight of eight eviscerated females varied from 49 to 80 kg, with an average of 68.7 kg. Consequently, their live weight ranged from 65-70 to 95-100 kg, on average, a female wild boar weighs about 83 kg. For example, two queens we got in December had a live weight of one - 75, the second - 85 kg. Alive weight of adult Ili boars kept in the Alma-Ata Zoo, was in the male!

Table 1

Data on the size and weight of an adult wild boar in the lower reaches of the river. Or

142 n in the female - 118 kg. Based on the above data, it can be concluded that at present, in the entire desert part of the wild boar range in Kazakhstan, the maximum weight of males reaches 220-240 "g, females - 100-120 kg. Therefore, the boars living in this large area are more or less the same weight.

In the semi-desert zone on the lake. The male Kurgaldzhin boar, taken in November, weighed (gutted) 144 kg (live weight about 160 kg), and the second animal, taken in March (very thin), weighed 100 kg (live weight about 115). Cleaver, obtained from Biysk, weighed about 150 kg.

Similar weights to those given above for Kazakhstan are boars living in Western Europe and in the European part of the Soviet Union. For example, in Germany, the maximum weight of this beast reaches 150-200 kg (W. Gaacke, 1901).

In the Latvian SSR, the largest animals also weigh up to 200 kg, and once an old billhook was caught there, weighing 236 kg (A.I. Kalninsh, 1950). In "Belarus, in the Khoiniki region, an old male weighing 256 kg was killed in 1951 (I.N. Serzhanin, 1955). Two females from Belovezhskaya Pushcha aged 4-5 years weighed 84 and 96.4 kg (S.A. Severtsov and T. B. Sablina, 1953. In the Caucasus Reserve, the weight of male wild boars now ranges from 64 to 178 kg, and on average is 166 kg (12 specimens each), females from 48 to 108, on average 68 kg ( S. S. Donaurov and V. P. Teplov, 1938), while at the time of N. Ya.

Siberia in the last century the most big boars weighed up to 240 kg and, as an exception, there were animals weighing 272 kg (A. Cherkasov, 1884). Very large boars live in the Soviet Far East. The maximum weight of males there allegedly reaches 300-320 kg (Yu. A. Liverovsky and Yu. A. Kolesnikov, 1949), and according to the latest data of V. P. Sysoev (1952) - only 200 kg.

About sizes various parts The body of an adult Kazakh wild boar and the features of its physique can be judged from the data given in tables 1 and 2.

Body indexes of the Kazakh wild boar from the lower reaches of the river. Or

Judging by the weight and size of adult boars, these animals have quite pronounced sexual dimorphism. Males are larger than females.

Due to the fact that wild boars grow relatively slowly, they also have pronounced age dimorphism. Young animals under the age of 12 months are called piglets (among the Kazakhs - “ggurai>). The size and weight of piglets in winter at the age of 8-11 months can be judged from the data given in Table 3. Given that the piglet has a full stomach and intestines, as well as blood, they weigh an average of 4 kg together, its live weight at the age of 8- 11: months varies in males from 21 to 30 and in females - from 20 to

Data on the size and weight of gilts and piglets in the lower reaches of the river. Or

1 Weight without stomach, intestinal tract and blood.

29 kg. Thus, by the age of one year, piglets reach only about 7" of the weight of an adult animal. Their body sizes increase much faster (see table 3).

At the age of 12 to 23 months, young boars are called gilts.

The data in Table 3 give an idea of ​​their weight and size. Considering that a full stomach, intestines and blood in a gilt weigh an average of about 10 kg, its live weight ranges from 25 to 54 in males and about 35 to 44 kg in females. . According to hunters, there are male gilts weighing up to 60 kg. Consequently, gilts weigh about half as much as adult boars. Our data on the weight of wild boars at different ages are also confirmed by the materials of other authors. For example, according to W. Gaacke (1901), the weight of wild boars living in Central Europe, in the first year of life it is 25-40, in the second 50-70, in the third - 80-100, and in the fourth - 100-185 kg. Think that full growth wild boars reach the age of 5 - 6 years. They live 20 - 30 years.

The weight of a gutted animal without stomach, intestines and blood.

The boar is a famous animal that appears in movies and cartoons and is mentioned in books. It's desired and uneasy hunting trophy. Wild boar in heraldry means strength and fearlessness. This is a peculiar animal with interesting habits.

Description

The wild boar is an artiodactyl animal from the pig family. Some scientists believe that the species appeared in southeast Asia (in the Philippines or Indonesia). Later, wild boars came to northern Africa and Eurasia.

Boar - close relative domestic pig. Outwardly, they are similar, but many characteristics are very different:

1. The body of the boar is shorter and stronger. The body is muscular, tapering towards the legs. The front of the body is especially strong.
2. Low powerful legs are longer than those of a pig.
3. The head of a wild boar is more elongated, wedge-shaped. Large pointed ears stick out. The animal has excellent hearing and smell, but poor eyesight and small eyes.
4. The neck is thick and short.
5. Large and sharp fangs. Especially frightening - on the lower jaw. Fangs grow throughout life. Probably, because of them, seasoned males are called billhooks - in honor of the tool of the same name (a hybrid of a knife and an ax). The fangs of males are much larger - up to 25 cm in length.
6. The snout is coarsened, since with its help the boar searches for food, rummaging in the ground.
7. The body is covered with hair that looks like coarse bristles. In winter, the protective cover becomes denser. During stress, the coat bristles, a kind of mane appears.
8. Coloring - camouflage, depends on the place of residence. As a rule, these are shades from whitish and gray to black with a bluish tint, more often brownish, brown. The muzzle, tail, legs (below) are darker than the main color. Up to six months, the piglet is colored in stripes: brown, yellowish and light. This enhances the camouflage.
9. Straight ponytail with tassel. Length - 18–25 cm.

A wild pig “communicates” with the help of squealing and grunting, it can thus give an alarm signal or a battle cry.

Weight and dimensions

An adult boar looks intimidating. In addition to fangs, impress and size. Animals have the following dimensions:

• body length - 90–180 cm;
• height at the withers - up to 1.2 m.

Weight - from 90 to 300 kg. Seasoned billhooks weigh more than the rest. Weight depends on gender, lifestyle, habitat, diet.

The smallest boars live in southeast Asia and India. Their maximum weight is about 45 kg. Larger than the rest of the animals that inhabit the territory between the Urals and the Carpathians. Sometimes they weigh more than 300 kg. In Primorye and Manchuria there are specimens weighing up to half a ton.

AT Sverdlovsk region four years ago, the record holder was shot dead. With a growth of about 2 m, the weight of the boar was more than 500 kg.

Females are smaller, sexual dimorphism is pronounced. The height does not exceed 90 cm. The maximum weight is about 200 kg.

Varieties

The boar genus is part of the pig family. Boars are its brightest representatives. Relatives are pigs - domestic, Javanese and others.

Wild boars inhabit vast territories on different continents. The differences are mainly related to habitats, climate, food. Among the boars, 16 subspecies are distinguished. They are divided into four groups:

1. Western. This includes 7 subspecies of the wild boar. A well-known representative is Central European. These are not the largest animals: the length of the male is 130–140 cm, average weight- 100 kg. Live in Russia, Europe.
2. Indian. This group includes two subspecies. One of them is called Indian. These are peaceful animals. In India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, they quietly coexist with people. They have a lighter coat compared to other species.
3. Eastern. It has 6 subspecies, the largest among them is the Ussuri. The standard length of a boar is 170–180 cm, weight is about 300 kg. This group and the western one are the most numerous.
4. Indonesian. Only one subspecies was included here - the Malaysian wild boar. Small boar, when compared with the rest. Found from the islands of Java and Sumatra to Komodo. Probably, these places are the ancestral home of wild boars.

Ussuri

Malaysian

Habitat

Wild pigs live in different corners planets, populating vast territories:

• Europe completely;
• Africa, especially the north;
• different parts of Asia;
• America, where animals were brought for hunting.

Wild boar hybrids with domestic pigs are a serious threat to Agriculture. Particularly affected by their raids are the fields in the states South America. Australia is home to runaway and feral domestic pigs.

In some countries, the population of these animals has been destroyed or reduced, for example:

1. In Great Britain, boars were dealt with in the 13th century. It was only about 30 years ago that a population of feral animals appeared that escaped from special farms.
2. In Denmark, wild boars were almost completely exterminated in the 19th century. About 50 years ago, animals began to reappear in wild nature.
3. In Russia, there were few wild boars by the 30s of the XX century. After 20 years, the population began to recover. Today pigs can be found even near densely populated areas.

Wild pigs love the forest and water, often live in swampy areas. In Russia, oak and beech forests are preferred, but they are also found in mixed forests.

Carry different weather, climate. Wild boars live in areas from semi-desert to wet rainforest. There are separate populations on the islands, for example, in Corsica, Sumatra.

Pigs do not like hills, hills, mountains, although sometimes they live there. For example, in the Caucasus they rise to a height of up to 2600 m. In Russia they are not found only in the tundra and taiga. The wild boar is one of the most widespread mammals.

Lifestyle

Wild boars try to stick to damp places overgrown with forest, bushes, and reeds. The wild pig is one of the social animals. Most live in groups. The role of leaders is performed by females. The herd consists of wild boars, piglets and juveniles. Young and weak males occupy a subordinate position. Stronger mature males live separately from the herd and approach it only for mating.

The herd usually consists of 10-30 individuals. Rarely there are "teams" of up to 100 goals. Animals often roam, but only within their territory. The area of ​​the herd, according to some scientists, is 1–4 km².

Females mature in their second year of life, their partners in their fourth or fifth. AT temperate climate mating season lasts from November to January. There are 1-3 females per male. Boars are actively fighting. The winners sometimes get up to 8 females.

Wild boars give birth to 4–12 piglets once a year. They hatch for approximately 18 weeks. The female boar takes care of the offspring and actively guards them. Breastfeeds up to 3.5 months. By the next autumn, each boar cub weighs 20–30 kg.

Boars are fast but clumsy animals. They run at speeds up to 40-45 km / h. Animals swim well, sometimes - for decent distances, they dig perfectly.

Wild boars are active at night, and rest in the shelter during the day. They dig a hole 30-40 cm deep on their own, throw leaves to the bottom. Sometimes several animals rest in the pit.

What do wild boars eat

Boars are almost omnivorous. Their menu is varied:

1. They love vegetation: roots, bulbs, fruits, acorns, nuts, mushrooms, berries, and more.
2. In winter, they eat bark, shoots, twigs.
3. The wild boar also feeds on animal food: snails, amphibians, worms, rodents, insects, birds and their eggs, fish.
4. Sometimes animals eat carrion.

Diet depends on subspecies and habitat. For example, on the island of Java, boars eat fruit; animals living in the Volga basin - fish and small rodents.

Boars eat 3–6 kg of feed per day. Most get food from the top layer of soil (litter). Here, wild boars receive 2/3 of the diet.

Pigs dig up a lot of forest land in search of food. They unwittingly sow seeds and protect trees from pests such as pine moths. Improve the soil.

In the hungry season, wild boars come to the fields and vegetable gardens. There they feast on potatoes, turnips, cereals and other crops. They trample down plots, eat young trees in the dachas.

A wild boar is not a predator, but when it is very bad with food, it attacks birds, hares. In extreme cases, it even eats deer, roe deer and other large animals, however, only weakened, sick or wounded. Does not disdain carrion.

wild boars eat some poisonous plants. Thanks to a special mutation in their diet, there may be snakes, the poison of which is also not terrible for boars. However, in normal conditions boars only eat plants.

natural enemies

Due to its size and fangs, almost everyone in the forest is afraid of the boar. Plus, the beasts are brave and ferocious, especially when injured or protecting offspring. However, they have enemies in nature:

1. Wolves. For example, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha flocks of predators prey on boars. But usually wolves attack weaker and younger individuals.
2. The Bears. An adult male wild boar is a rare prey for this animal, there is a high risk of dying himself. The bear is looking for a weaker prey.
3. Large cats: lynxes, leopards, tigers. Kill, as a rule, sick or medium-sized animals.
4. Komodo dragon.
5. big snakes, predator birds. Some stray wild pig becomes their prey.

The most dangerous enemy for the beast is man. Boar hunting is popular, it is considered outdoor activities and extreme entertainment.

Lifespan

AT vivo wild boars live 10–15 years, but many do not live past ten.

Wild boars also live under human supervision: in zoos, nature reserves. Private traders sometimes keep them in suburban areas. There they build covered corrals, treat them with a variety of food. They try to create conditions that resemble natural ones, for example, they put grass and leaves on the ground in a “pigsty”. In such conditions, animals live up to twenty years. Domestic pigs at normal maintenance live almost twice as long.

Approximately 10% of boars are killed by hunters or poachers. In addition to starvation and predators, other dangers lie in wait for wild boars in nature - plague, scabies, trichinosis and other diseases.

Boar danger to humans

Wild boars, like many other animals, attack only when necessary. They don't kill for fun. Some subspecies are more peaceful, for example, Indian. However, any animal sometimes becomes dangerous: someone angered, injured, there is a threat to offspring.

Adult male wild boars inflict terrible lacerations with fangs, bruises. Impact - from the bottom up. Females knock a person down and trample them with their hooves.

Noticing a wild boar or its tracks in the forest, you need to quietly leave. The first beast is unlikely to attack, but the meeting must be avoided. If so, take into account the following:

1. A wild boar does not see well and does not notice a person at a distance of about 15 m. However, the sense of smell and hearing are well developed.
2. It makes no sense to run - the boar will even catch up with the cyclist.
3. You need to climb a tree, even to a small height - at least 1 m. The animal has a thick, motionless neck, so it cannot throw a person off.
4. It is better to leave the attacking beast, bounce to the side. You need to do this when he is very close.
5. Do not scare away the boar by throwing small items, branches or cones, even sitting on a tree. This will not help, but will only anger the beast.
6. A knife or a shocker in the fight against a boar is almost useless. The best weapon- firearms, large caliber.
7. A mortally wounded animal is sometimes able to run up to a hundred meters and take revenge on the offender. This happened even when hit in the heart.
8. In the mating season, the bulls have a reliable protection of cartilage on their backs, on the sides.
9. The best targets are the brain or dorsal (spine). If the enemy is already close, shoot in the forehead. During the attack, the animal lowers its head.

The wild boar is a formidable forest dweller. The life of a boar is interesting, but it is better to watch it on TV or at the zoo.