Man and Chinese river dolphin type of relationship. Chinese river dolphin: all about the rarest animal
Victor Kalinin
Pig farmer with 12 years of experience
Articles written
The wild boar is the progenitor of several hundred breeds of domestic pigs, one of the most common wild animals. This mammal is also known as boar, wild pig, and cleaver. The latter term is more often used to describe adult males. Its extensive habitat, variable appearance, high frequency of occurrence and relative proximity to humans make the wild boar a very interesting representative of the fauna.
Baths for wild pigs in sweltering heat.
Wild pigs are found across much of the Eurasian continent. Habitat - from the Scandinavian Peninsula and the West Siberian Plain in the north, to North Africa and the Himalayan Mountains in the south. There are also relatively isolated populations of this mammal on the islands of Java, Sumatra, Sri Lanka, etc.
The species' range is constantly changing due to human intervention. Active hunting led to the complete extermination of boars in Libya, Egypt, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Northern Japan, and other countries. But human intervention led to the expansion of the range and currently wild boar or feral hybrids with domestic pigs are found on all continents except Antarctica. In South America, wild pigs are a real threat to crops.
Appearance
The appearance of wild pigs is very variable.
Given the diversity of habitats (from deserts to dark coniferous taiga), wild pigs have extremely variable appearance. Common features are identified for all representatives of the species that distinguish them from domestic pigs.
The wild boar is a powerful animal of medium to large size. The head is large, the muzzle is extended forward in the form of a wedge. Males have well-developed fangs up to 20 cm long, which protrude from both jaws. With them, boars can easily cripple or kill an animal attacking them; hunting dogs often suffer from the fangs.
The ears are long. The body is covered with thick, hard bristles, and by winter the undercoat also grows. The tail is straight, up to 25 cm long, with a tassel at the end. Color depends on habitat and time of year. The bristles are colored in different shades of brown - from almost black to yellowish or grayish. The undercoat, which grows in most subspecies only in winter, is brownish-gray in color. The population in Belarus is characterized by an almost black coat color, and in the southeast of Kazakhstan there are light gray, almost whitish coats. Sometimes there are individuals with a variegated color, which is more characteristic of the descendants of feral pigs, and not of typical representatives of the species. Piglets have a striped color, which changes when they reach the age of 3-4 months.
A special feature of the body structure of an adult male is the Kalkan, which protects the chest and neck. This is a very dense layer of fat-like tissue several centimeters thick, which is difficult to cut. Thanks to this feature, fights between adult cleavers usually end without deaths.
The average height of a male at the withers is 103 cm, and that of a female is 75 cm. But these figures differ widely. In various populations, the height of males is from 93 to 120 cm, and females - 61-96 cm. Unlike the domestic pig, the boar is much higher at the withers than at the rump. The male's body length is 150‑205 cm, the female's is 129‑169 cm.
It is difficult to answer unambiguously the question of how much a boar weighs, because figures averaged for all subspecies do not reflect the full picture. For example, the average weight of a male is about 100 kg, but in the Caucasus, a boar weighing 250-300 kg was considered common until the first half of the 20th century. The maximum weight of an adult male wild boar was recorded among representatives living in Manchuria and Primorye, where individual specimens reached 500 kg. Currently, individuals over 170 kg are rare. Recently, the weight of a boar has become highly dependent on active hunting. Shooting prevents it from reaching its maximum age and growing to its maximum size. On average, pigs live for about 14 years, but in protected areas they can live up to 20.
In general, in Russia and adjacent territories the rut is extended and lasts from October to February. It is most intense in November-December, when up to 80% of females are covered. By the beginning of the rut, the preputial gland produces a thick yellowish liquid, which the males spray along the trails. Cleavers rub against tree trunks and make peculiar notches on them with blows of their fangs, which, together with the smell, serve to mark the territory and signal females and opponents about the location of the cleaver. Females also mark trees by rubbing their head glands and secreting salivary, lacrimal and other glands, in this way informing males that they are ready to mate.
Having found a herd of pigs with young animals, the male drives away the gilts and begins to pursue the females (most often in a circle). If another cleaver approaches the herd, which consists of 3-8 females, the owner enters into a fierce fight with him, filling the surrounding area with roars and squeals. The fight lasts 1-2 minutes, during which the males inflict serious wounds on each other’s bodies. The “skin shield, or Kalkan,” protects from wounds. During the mating period, males hardly eat and quickly lose weight, losing up to 20-25% of their weight.
The wild boar is a monocyclic species. In Western Europe, cases of the appearance of two broods per year have been noted. In Russia, the hunting period for females is in October-January, the duration of estrus is 2-3 days, the next one appears after 21-23 days. All members of a family group are covered at the same time, 1-8 days apart. Pregnancy lasts 114-140, on average 120 days.
Due to the extended rut, piglets are born between March and June. Occasionally, newborns are found in February and July-October. Pigs piglet in specially constructed nests made of grass, weeds and brushwood. At first, the nest has a roof and one entrance. Subsequently, the integrity of the nest is compromised. If the nest is poorly constructed, early broods often freeze to death.
The number of piglets is 3-12, usually 4-6; Young pigs have fewer piglets than older ones.
The size of the litter varies depending on the availability of food. In Belovezhskaya Pushcha, in the year following a good acorn harvest, the average number of piglets in a litter was 6.6, and in the year following a poor acorn harvest, it was only 2.9.
The weight of newborns is 500-900 g. Their coloring until 2-3 months of age is striped from alternating dark brown and light reddish-gray longitudinal stripes. In May, the weight of piglets is already 2-4.5 kg, in August 12-20 kg.
The lactation period lasts 2.5-3.5 months, but already at the age of one month the piglets begin to feed on their own. During the period of milk feeding, females with piglets again gather in herds and pigs experience “piglet communism”, when piglets, while grazing together with another litter, suck milk from other people’s mothers. Often it looks like a game, because this squealing and pushing striped horde of piglets from two or three litters at the same time can suckle for 20-30 seconds one female, and then another and a third, and they do not drive them away (at the same time, the females rummage muzzle in the ground in search of food).
The question of how long a domestic pig lives is difficult to answer unambiguously. Each livestock breeder has his own opinion on this matter. Domestic piglets are allotted by nature 10-15 years of carefree existence, but their life usually ends at the age of 1.5 years, when adult animals are sent for slaughter.
The question of how long a domestic pig lives is difficult to answer unambiguously.
There are many cases where pigs lived to old age. Representatives of the pot-bellied breed celebrated their 15th birthday, and some of their relatives lived up to 35 years. As you can see, the answer to the question of how long pigs live is not so easy to find. Weak animals can live less than 1 year. Farmers solve this problem by vaccinating against various quarantine diseases. Pets that live in normal conditions and receive various healthy supplements along with high-quality food will delight their owners with their existence for many years. But, as a rule, pigs are sent for slaughter at the age of 1.5 years, so it is difficult to understand how many years a pig lives in a household plot.
According to scientific research, the age of an adult female can reach 15-25 years. During this time, she is able to bear offspring 20 times. Males live longer - 35-45 years.
Wild pigs are luckier. They can live in the wild much longer than their counterparts. Their life expectancy is dictated by reality. Wild pigs can become prey to wolves or bears. In addition, they can be shot by hunters. An old wild boar or pig is rarely found in nature. But in zoos, animals live 2 times longer than in the wild. Under normal conditions and a balanced diet, their average life expectancy is 25-30 years.
About feed and raising pigs for beginners (video)
Gallery: domestic pig (25 photos)
What determines the longevity of a pig?
The life expectancy of a pig is influenced by the following factors:
- nutrition;
- conditions of detention and hygiene;
- gender of the animal and its breed;
Any pig can live longer if it is provided with high-quality feed and normal living conditions. The animal must be fed with concentrated feed, high-quality grain meal, fresh juicy grass and vegetables. Do not forget about premixes and various vitamin supplements.
For animals that live in a home barn, you need to prepare hay from your favorite plants and chopped grain for the winter. In order to maintain healthy bones and joints, you need to add minerals and calcium to the food. High-quality nutrition for pigs must be combined with favorable living conditions.
Let's consider the basic requirements that a pigsty must meet:
- good ventilation;
- purity;
- lack of dampness;
- regular change of litter.
Victor Kalinin
Pig farmer with 12 years of experience
Articles written
The farmer must know how long pigs of different breeds and sexes live in order to properly regulate breeding and slaughter. Life expectancy differs for wild and domestic pigs, for sows and wild boars.
Wild pigs live up to 10 years, longer than domestic animals. There is an opinion that physiologically it is capable of living for 20 years, but dies due to the dominance of other individuals who are hostile or seeking food. Wolves, foxes, bears and other predators who want to feast on fresh meat are especially dangerous for wild pigs.
Strong boars can live 25 years in the wild due to their pronounced aggression and sculpted physique. In fights with wild animals, he does not receive significant wounds, and when hit by a rifle bullet, he survives and even remains healthy. Wild boar are difficult to poison or defeat in battle, which is why they are considered long-lived.
A wild pig does not die from age.
Attention! Old animals cannot be found in nature - they become weak and unviable.
In the household
Domestic pigs are raised for slaughter, so it is difficult to accurately determine life expectancy. On average, a domestic sow is used for breeding for 15-25 years, and then she is slaughtered for meat. During this time, she brings 20 litters of piglets. A domestic boar can live up to 35-40 years. A farm owner who wants to raise a long-lived boar provides him with a complete balanced diet, maintains a level of hygiene, and regularly cleans the pigsty.
Among domestic pigs, the most famous long-livers are:
- a dwarf boar named Max, who lived with Hollywood actor George Clooney for 19 years as a family pet;
- wild boar Babe, aged 12 years, lives to this day with a family in the Bahamas and is in excellent health.
Max the pygmy boar is George Clooney's long-lived companion.
Dependence of life span on breed
How long a pig's life will last is determined by genetic and breed factors. Thus, Hungarian barbecues live longer than a large white pig, and landraces require a special diet to maintain health.
The mating season for wild boars lasts one to two winter months. At this time, male wild boars begin fierce fights for the right to possess a female; often such battles cost them their health and even their lives. During this period, they rush in search of females and herd them into the general herd. Not only do we have “for every ten girls, according to statistics, there are nine boys”; For wild boars, the situation is very similar to ours: there are up to three females per boar. Since it has not yet been possible to more closely and thoroughly monitor the rutting period of wild boars, we can only tentatively say its time frame. However, sometimes, in especially hungry years or, on the contrary, abundant ones, there are cases when the rut moves forward several months, and it happens that it even takes place in two stages, twice a year. But all this relates only to wild boars living in our strip. The same animals that live in the tropics can give birth to offspring every month. It is believed that a female wild boar reaches sexual maturity in the second year of life and is capable of bearing children, but males have to wait a little - they are considered ready for adulthood only in the fourth or even fifth year.
Pregnancy in wild boars lasts a little more than four months, or to be more precise, 124-140 days; Moreover, old females carry their young a little longer than others. However, the number of children in the litter of such females increases significantly, although this also depends on many other factors, such as the fatness of the female and her size. The average number of piglets in one such family is from four to six. The largest offspring known to man consisted of 12 small piglets.
Newborns, as a rule, sleep in the same bed with their mother. However, when the female is forced to go in search of food, she often covers her cubs with part of the litter and gathers them in a heap so that they warm each other.