Originally Posted by
MudderChuck
I found it odd a mature (male) Boar mixed in with a sounder (part 1). Pure breed wild Boar you don't see that. The mature males are either following a Sow in season (sniffing Hog butt) or separated from the sounder if they do show. If they try to mix with the sounder the lead Sow will often position herself between the male Boar and the rest of the sounder. Sometimes the lead Sow gets pretty aggressive.
I'm kind of interested in the differences between true Wild Boar, the hybrids and the differences in behavior. I always wondered if it was learned behavior or genetic? It's likely genetic, I'm wondering if they are evolving? I think maybe the differences in the mating cycles between true European Boar (once a year) and the hybrids (multiple times a year), is slowly making a new sub species?
Most of their inclinations (behavior) seem constant between the North American Boar and European Boar. There seem to be some differences.
That is interesting. From what I have read of wild boar in the UK and Estonia, the boars will stay with the sounder throughout the breeding season before behind chased off. As we don't have a breeding season here, per se, females coming into heat at various times (depending on the individual females), the boars may be associated with sounders more often.
As for evolution. All animals are in that process, be it via phyletic gradualism or punctuated equilibria. Remember that nature does not care about titles such as species and subspecies. Those are something of artificial constructs with arbitrary definitions. There are already quite a few subspecies named, though most folks would be hard pressed to understand the differences between some of them.