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Reproductive potential of free-living wild boar in Central Europe

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Abstract

The population of wild boar has rapidly increased over the past decades in many environments. Climate changes, changes in agricultural policy orientation, and, for example, insufficient hunting and predation pressure on the wild boar have made it one of the key species of the 21st century in Europe. Currently, the biggest threat related to the distribution and abundance increasing of wild boar in Europe is their contribution to spreading of African swine fever (ASF) disease. In order to prevent the spread of ASF and its consequences, it is essential to reduce the population of the wild boar to the lowest possible level. The rate of reduction required depends on the initial population size and the population recruitment rate. These are affected, among other factors, by the carrying capacity of the environment, the provision of artificially supplied foods, and feeding at baiting sites, to assist hunting. This study evaluated the reproductive potential of wild boar populations in the Czech Republic, across a range of environmental conditions. The environment significantly affected the physical condition of piglets, yearlings, and adult sows. In lower-quality environments, piglets entered puberty earlier than in higher-quality environments. Pregnancy has been reported in piglets from the age of 7 months. The average litter size was 4.08 for piglets, 5.83 for yearlings, and 7.01 for adult sows. The sex ratio of piglets was affected by the body condition of the mother. The reproductive potential of the current Central European wild boar population is high. This study showed that approximately 95% of females will be impregnated during the non-vegetative season. An average increment of 5 piglets per female, or 3 piglets per wild boar who survived the winter, can be expected.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the staff and students of Mendel University in Brno who have voluntarily participated in our study. We also thank the hunting ground owners who allowed us to collect samples, especially: Forests of the Czech Republic, State Enterprise, Military Forests and Farms, State Enterprise, Training Forest Enterprise Masaryk Forest Křtiny, Wood & Paper, a.s., STEELPARK s.r.o., and Forests of the City of Brno. We thank the staff of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover for methodological advice: Oliver Keuling, Friederike Gethöffer, and Magali Frauendorf. We thank the staff of the University of the Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno for confirming the validity of the methodological procedures: Svatopluk Čech, Miloslava Lopatářová, Ladislav Kašpar, and Gabriela Bořilová. We also thank Boštjan Pokorny of the Slovenian Forestry Institute, Oliver Keuling of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, and Göran Bergqvist of Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management for providing data and information on the reproduction of Slovenian, German, and Swedish wild boars, and Ken Urquhart for language revision.

Funding

This study was in part funded by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (VI20152020044).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno (Mendelu), Zemědělská 1, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jakub Drimaj, Jiří Kamler, Radim Plhal, Ondřej Mikulka & Jaroslav Zeman

  2. Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno (Mendelu), Zemědělská 1, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Martin Hošek

  3. Department of Forest Management and Applied Geoinformatics, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno (Mendelu), Zemědělská 1, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Karel Drápela

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  1. Jakub Drimaj
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Correspondence to Jakub Drimaj.

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Drimaj, J., Kamler, J., Hošek, M. et al. Reproductive potential of free-living wild boar in Central Europe. Eur J Wildl Res 66, 75 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-020-01416-8

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