Wild boar
Sus scrofa
A large even-toed ungulate with coarse bristles, a long snout, and, in males, upward-curving tusks. It is a resident species in Georgia.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Omnivore
Status in Georgia
Resident
Size
90–200 cm
Habitat
Forest / floodplain
Family
Suidae
Conservation
LC
Human interaction: It has no venom. It can charge or cut with its tusks, especially a sow with piglets or a cornered male. Do not feed it or approach it. Keep dogs back. African swine fever is not a human disease. If meat is taken legally, undercooked pork can carry Trichinella at species level; there is no separate Georgian survey on this page.
Overview
What is Wild boar
The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a year-round mammal in Georgia, in the pig family (Suidae). It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig and the same species. IUCN lists Georgia in the native range. It appears on national mammal checklists and on the list of hunting species. At species level, head–body length is about 90–200 cm, shoulder height 55–110 cm, and mass often about 44–320 kg, depending on subspecies and sex. It has no venom. The main human risk is a charge or a tusk wound, not poison. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List.
Last updated
Gallery
Wild boar in photos
Photo: Volodymyr Burdiak
Ternopil Oblast ·
Photo: Richard Bartz
Grünwalder Forst ·
Photo: Bramans
Oberursel ·
Photo: NasserHalaweh
Wildpark Eekholt ·
Photo: Sander van der Wel
Netherlands ·
Photo: df7ii
Identification
How to identify Wild boar
A large even-toed ungulate with a short neck, a long snout, coarse bristles, and a straight back line. Males often show upward-curving tusks. It is resident in Georgia.
- 01
At species level head–body is about 90–200 cm, tail 15–40 cm, shoulder height 55–110 cm, mass often 44–320 kg. Females are usually about 80% the size of males. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page. The Georgian encyclopaedia gives males to 2 m body length, 130 cm at the shoulder, and 50–300 kg; those are maxima in a secondary source, not a sample measured here. The snout is long, the ears erect, the eyes small.
- 02
The coat is coarse bristle, often with a softer underwool. Colour runs from brown to almost black and often greyer with age. In males the upper canines curve out and up; the lower canines stay sharp by rubbing. In females the tusks are smaller and often hidden. Piglets have longitudinal pale stripes on a brown ground — a reliable age mark.
- 03
Georgia has no other wild suid. The domestic pig is the same species and hybridises freely; a “pure wild” animal and an escaped domestic pig cannot always be separated in the field. Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is slimmer, longer-legged, and has antlers in males, not tusks. Brown bear (Ursus arctos) is much larger and leaves a plantigrade print, not a cloven hoof.
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It is not venomous. The risk is physical: a charge and tusks. Do not approach a sow with piglets. Do not handle it.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
In Georgia look for it in deciduous and mixed forest, floodplain woodland, scrub, ravines, and woodland edges where cover and food occur together. At species level the highest densities are often in oak forest; it also enters crops when the plants give cover. A named Georgian locality is the Iori floodplain hunting farm (2020 management plan): suitable habitat there is listed as oak, poplar, floodplain scrub, gullies and ravines; fields, arable land, gardens and marshes only occasionally. The same plan says it enters the farm episodically in summer when livestock are on summer pastures, and that it moves through the year. The Georgian encyclopaedia names floodplain and mountain forest to about 2,500 m; that is a secondary source and is not treated here as a measured national elevation series. This page does not map administrative regions. Country occurrence is confirmed, but a municipality-by-municipality list is not compiled here. Do not assume even density across the whole country.
Diet
There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range it is an opportunistic omnivore: roots, tubers, grass, oak and beech mast, berries, insects, snails, carrion, refuse, and sometimes small vertebrates. In Europe it often damages crops and grassland. The realistic picture in Georgia is the same — forest mast, floodplain cover, and sometimes fields — but the local menu has not been measured here.
Behavior
It is mainly active at dusk and at night; a long rest by day and a shorter rest in the early afternoon are typical. Where hunting pressure is high it shifts further toward night activity. Sows with piglets travel in a sounder; adult males are often solitary outside the breeding season. It wallows in mud and then rubs on trees — also a territorial mark. At species level gestation is about 112–130 days, often with 5–7 piglets; larger or smaller litters are less common. Before farrowing the sow leaves the group and builds a nest. In the temperate zone piglets are born mainly in spring. The Georgian encyclopaedia places the rut in November–December; that is a secondary source and is not treated here as a measured Georgian calendar. Piglets have longitudinal pale stripes; that pattern fades at about 2–6 months. The track is a cloven hoof; on soft ground the dew claws often print as well. Rooted soil and wallows are common field signs.
Conservation
Keuling and Leus assess Sus scrofa as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2019). There is no major global threat; local pressures can include habitat loss, hunting, killing after crop damage, and hybridisation with domestic pigs. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190). It is listed as a hunting species (Order No. 175); quotas and seasons are set by agency documents and are not copied here as current numbers. The Georgian encyclopaedia states that numbers in the country do not exceed 2,000; year and method are not given here, so that figure is not treated as a current census. In 2007 African swine fever was confirmed in Georgia; the first clinical cases are linked to Poti, most likely from discarded ship meat. The disease affects domestic and wild pigs and does not infect people. The FAO summary at the time had no confirmed wild-boar cases, but contact with free-ranging village pigs was considered possible. A national population trend is not measured on this page. Do not handle wild animals.
Yes. IUCN lists it as native in Georgia. It is on national mammal checklists and on the list of hunting species.
In forest, floodplain woodland, scrub, and woodland edges, at any time of year, more often at dusk and at night. This page has no municipality list. A named site is the Iori floodplain hunting farm, where the 2020 plan notes episodic summer entry. The atlas map is not coloured.
A large hoofed animal with coarse bristles, a long snout, and a straight back; males often show tusks. Piglets have longitudinal stripes. The domestic pig is the same species. There is no other wild pig in Georgia.
At species level head–body is about 90–200 cm, shoulder height 55–110 cm, mass often 44–320 kg. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page.
Roots, mast, grass, invertebrates, carrion, and sometimes crops. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
Mainly at dusk and at night. It is resident; it moves locally but does not migrate like many birds.
It is not venomous. It can charge or cut with its tusks. Do not approach a sow with piglets. African swine fever does not infect people.
It is globally Least Concern and is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List. It is a hunting species; season and quota are set by official rules.
- Keuling & Leus 2019 — IUCN Red List, Sus scrofa
- Meijaard, d’Huart & Oliver 2011 — Handbook of the Mammals of the World, vol. 2, Suidae
- IUCN Wild Pig Specialist Group — Eurasian wild boar detailed profile
- ASM Mammal Diversity Database — Sus scrofa
- Bukhnikashvili & Kandaurov 2002 — The annotated list of mammals of Georgia
- Eliava et al. 2007 — New data on animal biodiversity of Georgia
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- ნადირობას დაქვემდებარებული სახეობები — Sus scrofa (ბრძანება №175)
- იორის ჭალები — სამონადირეო მეურნეობის მართვის გეგმა (2020)
- ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია / georgianencyclopedia.ge — გარეული ღორი (ა. არაბული)
- Rowlands et al. 2008 — African swine fever virus isolate, Georgia, 2007
- FAO 2007 — African swine fever in Georgia
- Groves (ციტირებულია WPSG პროფილში) — ტრანსკავკასიური ღორი და S. s. attila
- Wikimedia Commons — Кабан у лісі (Byrdyak / Volodymyr Burdiak, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Wild Boar frontal (Richard Bartz, CC BY-SA 2.5)
- Wikimedia Commons — Wild boar, Oberursel (Bramans, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Suidae Sus scrofa scrofa 4 (NasserHalaweh, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Sus scrofa piglet (Sander van der Wel, CC BY-SA 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Frischlinge mit Bachen (df7ii, საჯარო დომენი)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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