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Hi guys, welcome to another one of my videos
So, I'm Sophia Jones,
and I'll be teaching you all about wild boars
and how they are an invasive species
and how to stop them being an invasive species
So, yeah! Hope you enjoy!
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the feral pig is a pig
that lives in the wild, descended from escaped domesticated pigs
the first recorded release of pigs was in
was in 1777 in Australia
as an effort to introduce animals and plants to newly discovered countries
the pig population grew very large
but the damage to crops and farms was minimal
however, in America, the estimated population of 6 million pigs
Causes billions of dollars in property damage each year
Pigs can destroy many acres of plowed land
in just a few days
mess up the food chain because
because their predators are endangered
and confined to small areas in the US
Like panthers, wolves, and bears
feral pigs eat small animals such as
young wild turkeys, toads, turtles
reptile and bird eggs, and occasionally deer
and deprive the rest of the animals that would normally prey on those things.
since they cause so much damage,
to crops, they are hunted a lot, especially with dogs
catching them with traps is also common
the laws on hunting feral pigs are very lax,
and several states have classified them as vermin
boars are very social animals
and live in groups that have older sows, mothers, and an older matriarch
males leave their groups when they are 18-15 months old
and stay in looses groups or are solitary outside of breeding season
females stay with their mothers or leave to create their own groups
a male can mate with 5-10 females during breeding season
and often fight with other males for a sow
each female produces 4-6 babies on average.
since these pigs reproduce so much,
eradicating them is a huge problem
boars have been hunted for a long time
in medieval Europe, killing a boar was seen as proof of manhood
and boar hunts were very common
Although many boars have been killed by humans,
boar attacks on humans are rare but very serious,
resulting in many deep injuries, especially in the thigh area
