Atlas der Säugetiere Nordrhein-Westfalens

Wildschwein

1209 entries

Wild boar

Rote Liste NRW: u Ungefährdet

  entry

Sus scrofa

Among the large wild animals Wild Boar are the only species with a monogastric stomach, meaning they are not ruminants. They are omnivores whose main food consists of acorns, beechnuts, field fruits, roots and insects. Mushrooms too are especially favoured. The dynamics of population increase are essentially determined by the forest tree mast.
Characteristic for the Wild Boar is its pronounced social behaviour. Females with their offspring, including young males, live in herds or family associations, with a matriarchal in orientation. The Wild Boar is the only truly aggressive wildlife in North Rhine-Westphalia. Cornered, the boars certainly know how to defend themselves. The sows energetically defend their piglets against humans and dogs that approach them too closely.
The Wild Boar is distributed area-wide in North Rhine-Westphalia with the exception of the densely urbanized areas and the most intensive agriculturally utilized areas. Among the hoofed game wild boar is the species with the highest population increase. This can be interpreted as an adaptation to the former predator situation that is the loss of piglets, for example by wolves.

Author

Michael Petrak

Citation

Petrak M (2025): Wildschwein (Sus_scrofa).In: AG Säugetierkunde NRW — Online-Atlas of the mammals of North Rhine-Westphalia. Downloaded from saeugeratlas-nrw.lwl.org on 2025/04/01