Range

Habitat

Food Sources

Behavior

Physical Description

Legal and management agendas

References

Feral hogs are generally a very group orientated family unit. Dispersal of the young usually occurs at puberty between 6 months and one year after birth. Virgin females called gilts will generally stay with their mothers to form groups called sounders until environmental pressures regulate that she join another sounder or start her own sounder.

     Immature boars will venture out on their own in search of estrous sows and will take turns copulating with the female after the dominate boar has serviced the female in heat. The dominant boar will be decided upon by conflicts among the largest of the available suitors. Boars carry on shoving matches standing side by side head to head or head to tail all the while ripping the opponite with tusks on the lower jaw and canines from the upper jaw line. Adult boar tusks can reach a length of 5 to 10 inches. The lower canines or tusks are aligned in front of the upper canines and all canines are rootless and capable of continued growth. The canines are in constant friction with upper and lower pairs sharpening one another. The tusks curve up and back of the jaws and produce very formidable weaponry capable of injury to any animal or human. From the head to behind the flanks of the boar is guarded buy thick hair, skin and fat that is capable of enduring tremendous bouts of sparing. (Mungall & Sheffield, pages 67, 71, & 72)

    The most marked breeding season is from November to January and if the sow has maintained body reserves she will rebreed in July or August. The estrous cycle is 21 days in length with copulation occurring many times. The sow will allow the boar to position her in a subordinate stance partially by circling and partially by his crushing weight on her pelvis and back. Many boars can be attracted by the pheromones produced by one female. Once penetration has occurred the corkscrew-shaped penis is pushed through the sow’s cervical orifice and is held until ejaculation is complete. (Hafez, page 237) Once the dominant boar has copulated he will rest while the less dominant boars jockey for a breeding position until the dominant boar recovers for another copulation. The sow will continue to forage during this whole process but at a greater rate of travel. (Mungall & Sheffield, page 72) The gestation length is approximately130 to 140 days depending on the age of the sow. Younger sows carry the piglets a less number of days until a more mature size is gained by the sow. (Sweeney & Sweeney, page 1103)

    Litter size is greatly variable among feral hogs due to the age of the sow, amount of available forage, and genetic origin of the feral bloodlines. Sweeney et al (1979) reported a range of 5 to 12 piglets per sow in a swamp in South Carolina. (Sweeney & Sweeney, page 1103) The farrowing activity of a sow is comprised of nest building in a wallowed out section of ground slightly larger than her own body and lining this wallow with plant matter. The piglets will remain in the nest until they can travel to forage with the sow. The piglets usually will begin to venture out with the mother at two weeks of age but the family group will keep returning to the nest as long as it is conducive to be a resting place and within access to forage. Piglets receive nutrients via milk and eating the dung of the sow but they quickly learn to forage for themselves.