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Feral swine (Sus scrofa)

Feral swine Description: Introduced in North America as a domesticated animal, they originally came from Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Malay Archipelago.

Identification: Covered in a scant coat of coarse, bristle-like hairs ranging from dark gray to brown. Head and body length ranges from 3-6 ft (900-1800 mm), tail length is about 1 ft long and shoulder height is 1.8-3.6 ft tall. Average weight it 110-800 lbs though some domesticated breeds can reach 1,000 lbs.

Habitat: Moist forests and shrublands, especially oak forests and areas where reeds are abundant. They are thought to be mainly limited by maximum winter snowfall, deep snow decreases their ability to travel and find food. They are sensitive to severe temperature changes.

Reproduction: Females can give birth to several litters of 6-12 piglets per year. Young are born after a gestation period of about 115 days (range 100-140). Young nurse for 3-4 months. Sexual maturity is reached between 6-10 months and females don't breed until 18 months while males don't breed until 5 years. Lifespan of about 10 years.

Impact and Damage: They have been known to carry several diseases and parasites, including hog cholera, pseudorabies, brucellosis, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, anthrax, ticks, fleas, lice and various worms. They can cause extensive damage to forests, agricultural lands and water resources (by rooting and wallowing). They also can be extremely aggressive and compete for natural foods with wildlife.

Monitoring and rapid response: Live capture and/ or killing. 70% removal is needed in order to stabilize their population.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (https://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (https://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Feral swine

Scientific Name:

Sus scrofa

Family:

Suidae
(Pig)

Habit:

Mammals