Wild Boar Year has begun

On December 15th The Estonian Society for Nature Conservation announced the Mammal of the Year 2015 - the Wild Boar.  The purpose of electing the mammal of the year is to turn more attention to one mammal species, living in the forests of Estonia. During this year there will be more information available about Wild Boar - its movements, activities, way of life and  the threat of swine fever.  Contributions to this information come from scientists, hunters and vets.

Wild boars (Sus scrofa) / Sven Zacek

There are more than twenty thousand Wild Boar living in our forests and it is usually easy to find its tracks or marks of activity in the forest or in the field. Wild Boar are generally social creatures. They gather into groups of different sizes, usually between 6-20 animals depending on location or time of the year.  They are generally nocturnal, the most active periods being early in the morning and late in the evening. They search for food as an average 4-8 hours per day. This is usually a social activity  within the group.  In the daytime they rest in shady places, such as amongst shrubs.  Life expectancy of Wild Boar is usually 9-10 years, but some specimens can make it up to 25.  Wild boar has received much attention as the disseminator of CSF and over three months seven lesions and 68 cases of swine fever were discovered in Estonia. 

Take a look of the live streaming view from the Wild Boar web-camera ...