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Diet of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in a protected area of Argentina: the importance of baiting

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Abstract

The wild boar is an invasive mammal in Argentina that generates habitat alteration, predation, and competition that threaten several native species due to its flexible and broad diet and its rooting behavior. We evaluated the diet of wild boar in El Palmar National Park (EPNP), assessing its composition, seasonality, and importance of baiting. Vegetable matter represented the major component of the diet, where corn was the most abundant food item, which is used as bait to hunt wild boars. Animal remains were also abundant and mostly consisted of birds. Wild boar diet exhibited marked seasonality that seems related to food availability, such as the occurrence of fruits in summer. Currently, the importance of bait in the diet could support and complement the diet of wild boar and improve their reproduction triggering the population growth. Also, the impacts on native biodiversity may be hidden due to the constant food subsidy of corn. We recommend the implementation of other control methods such as hunting with dogs or traps and the use of alternative baits, as odor baits, to avoid the supplemental feeding, or finally, if corn baiting is continuous, we suggest regulating their quantity and frequency. Further studies on wild boar diet and baiting methods should be conducted due to its multiple implications on wild boar populations and native ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by Idea Wild and the Rufford Foundation. The authors thank C. B. Anderson and M. N. Barrios for the thoughtful comments on previous versions of this manuscript and the Administración de Parques Nacionales and El Palmar National Park for providing logistical support for fieldwork. This work was carried out in the context of a Ph.D. thesis in the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba with the support of Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Argentina. S. A. Ballari and M. F. Cuevas are fellows; R. A. Ojeda and J. L. Navarro are researchers of CONICET.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba—CONICET, Córdoba, Argentina

    S. A. Ballari & J. L. Navarro

  2. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (IADIZA), CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina

    M. F. Cuevas & R. A. Ojeda

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  1. S. A. Ballari
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  2. M. F. Cuevas
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  3. R. A. Ojeda
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  4. J. L. Navarro
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Correspondence to S. A. Ballari.

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Communicated by: Thales Renato Ochotorena de Freitas

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Ballari, S.A., Cuevas, M.F., Ojeda, R.A. et al. Diet of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in a protected area of Argentina: the importance of baiting. Mamm Res 60, 81–87 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0202-0

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