The Wild Boar is the ancestor of domestic pigs. The Boar represents the warrior spirit and unbridled ferocity. With the Bear and Wolf the Boar is among the powerful totem animals. It's hunted for food by many, including humans, big cats, wolves and Komodo dragons.
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Both Boar and Sow are fierce. Adult boars attack people especially during rutting season, and use tusks, teeth, hooves and huge upper body strength to inflict deep wounds. They don't stop the assault until the opponent is clearly incapacitated.
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From 2000 - 2019 research in the USA confirms 1,532 attacks and 172 deaths by wild boar. By April 2024 seven deaths are already reported for the year. According to scientist John J. Mayer,
"It’s not sharks, wolves, or bears that kill the most people - it’s wild pigs, and the numbers are consistently trending up."
Of these, 38% of attacks are on agriculture workers, with 77% of deaths due to blood loss. The boar tends to strike at the lower body such as the legs. In the legs the femoral veins are major arteries. To compare, In 2021 there are 458,000 intentional murders by humans.
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Paleontology finds signs of Sus scrofa back to the early Pleistocene - Holocene (2.58 million to 11,700 years ago). Cave paintings depict the wild boar. In prehistory and modern times people use the tusks are jewelry, decoration, nature rituals or trophies.
Females or sows are most likely to be aggressive when they have piglets. More petite than the male but just as vicious, the sow has smaller tusks, can bite and break bones. She has to be ferocious. Piglets are food for wolves, bears, large lizards, people and other predators.
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From earliest times, wild pigs are primary prey. Domestication begins c. 8000 BCE when people raise piglets by hand, acclimatizing the animals to human presence. At first the pigs run wild in a settlement or outlying region, evolving to domesticated swine in pens.
The difference between domestic pigs and wild boars today is the result of thousands of years of animal husbandry. Wild boars have brown or gray body hair, a long skull and weight in the chest and shoulders. The male may have a prominent mane down his neck and back.
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For the first 3-4 months of life, boar piglets have camouflage stripe patterns to help them blend with the environment. It's their only defense if mother isn't near. Boars live in a matriarchal society. Sows, with their sisters, daughters and young males, remain together.
Pigs love to wallow and will dig their own wallows or wallowing pits. Wallowing is natural boar behavior. A wallow is a shallow depression of muddy water. A pig often digs and roots around before entering the bath to coat itself with mud.
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The reason for wallowing isn't completely understood. Pigs lack sweat glands, and wallowing might replace that function. Wallows might also be territorial markers. Either way a wallowing pig is a happy pig.
Wild boars can also build their own shelters. They collect pine branches, leaves and other organic matter to create a covered hollow for sleeping. If a male shares the shelter he has his own sleeping place, away from the main group.
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The Central European Boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) is common to most regions of Europe. According to Roman Tacitus, the Baltic Aesti tribes portray boars on their helmets, and may have worn boar masks.
The boar and pig are especially venerated by the Celts, who considered them sacred animals. Some Celtic deities linked to boars include Moccus and Veteris. Early myths of Welsh hero Culhwch, 11th-12th century, identify him as a son of a boar god.
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The Romans and Ancient Greeks describe boar attacks on their epic heroes. Odysseus is wounded by a boar, and Adonis is killed by one. The fourth labor of demi-god Heracles is to capture the Erymanthian boar, sacred to goddess of hunt Artemis.
In the highlands of Arcadia, legends are born. The Erymanthian boar is a fearsome beast living on Mount Erymanthos. The mountain is sacred to the Mistress of Animals. According to Homer, it's the abode of Artemis.
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The boar is a creature of chaos and destruction:
"When the goddess turned a wrathful countenance upon a country, as in the story of Meleager, she would send a raging boar, which laid waste the farmers' fields."
Early medieval Germanic cultures hold the boar in high regard. It's engraved on shields and swords. German boar helmets are considered to have spiritual powers of protection for the wearer.
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The boar features in Norse paganism as sacred to Freyr, god of peace and fertility, rain and sunshine. As a totemic animal to the Swedes it's adopted by the Yngling royal dynasty, who are known largely through Norse poetry.
Boar are adaptable animals who can live in almost any environment, and eat an omnivorous diet from mushrooms and roots to live prey and carrion. Their favorite foods include acorns and beech nuts, sources of fat and protein needed to weather cold winters.
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In China, the Boar is the twelfth of the twelve animal zodiac signs. The year of the Boar is one of abundance, wealth and luck. It's said when the zodiac is formed, the Creator invites twelve animals to influence the years. The Rat is in charge of distributing invitations.
On the list is the Cat. The Rat conveniently forgets to invite the Cat. Thus the Creator sends a messenger to Earth to bring the first animal encountered to the heavens. The messenger sees a plump porker. In this way the Pig or Boar takes a place as the final zodiac sign.