| Food Sources | ||
| Introduction Range Legal and management agendas
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The hog is not a ruminant and cannot utilize
microbes in their foregut such as with cattle but they do have a limited capacity for
hindgut fermentation in their intestines but it would be a very minimal gain. According to
Wild Mammals of North America, feral hogs are classified as opportunistic omnivores
that prefer plant matter to animal matter. They do eat more plant matter but the reason
for this is in their physical attributes. Hogs generally blunder their way through their
habitat due to their poor eyesight and strong sense of smell.
Scientific studies have documented that feral hogs will eat green stems and leaves of herbaceous plants 45% of the diet in the spring and 12-18% in other seasons. Grasses vary from 5 to 1% in all but the spring in which it comprises 20% of the diet. Roots were eaten 4-17% of the time in the spring and 55% in the winter. Acorns during the fall and winter comprise approximately half of the diet. Mushrooms were consumed 2 % in winter and 15% in the spring. Invertebrates comprised 11% in the fall and 21% in the winter. Vertebrates were taken all times of the year with snakes being the only type taken throughout the year. (Sweeney & Sweeney, page 1105) Other studies in different regions have confirmed these percentage diets. Plant matter comprises the majority of the diet because it can’t run away. Feral hogs possess a dietary inborn wisdom, as other animals do, that can allow them to choose the best diet for them. Since meat is a nutrient dense food source, hogs will capitalize on this nutrient source if given the opportunity. It would also stand to reason that boars would be much the same as the male cougar and eat their offspring. They do this not only to cause the females to cycle sooner but also due to the fact that the young are a viable food source.This partially could explain why sows fight and avoid the boars in their non-breeding seasons.
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Hogs
will not turn down a carrion meal and they would eat more meat if they, like the
omnivorous raccoon, could develop a hunting prowess. Raccoons have been known to hunt kid
goats and lambs, and become formidable predators. The hogs in the same manner prey upon
anything they can catch. For example kid goats, lambs, fawns, snakes and invertebrates.
Feral hogs have occasionally learned to prey upon adult sheep and goats. (Littauer) Many a
poor year’s calf crop has also been attributed to hog populations but the evidence of
a kill leaves with the hogs. Hogs possess the attributes of consuming the whole carcass
and wasting nothing including hair, hide, bone, offal, and even teeth.