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Very few people give this animal its due respect and if you ask a random person what they think about this animal, the most likely answer would be something edible. In reality the wild boar is one of the most aggressive animals in the wild. There are several reports of angry boars maiming and even killing people. Even the leopard is wary when taking on such a formidable creature. There are several reports published of leopards being badly attacked and even killed by a mob of angry boars.
The most recent was in Yala National Park in September 2012 where a young leopard was badly mauled by a group of three boars. I was at the park during this attack, but arrived too late, by which time the poor leopard was in its last moments of its life. A few lucky photographers had managed to capture this rare incident on film; sadly I was not among them.
Several wild boar are observed outside the entrance of Yala National Park, walking around the car park and ticket office. I have observed several times where visitors get up close to these massive animals and feed them. It should be strictly discouraged as these powerful animals are very aggressive and can attack without warning at any time. The result could be fatal or leave a victim with terrible injuries.
The boars are omnivorous, feeding on both plant matter and meat. Often seen gorging themselves on the carcasses of spotted deer killed by leopards and even feeding on dead elephants they are the ultimate opportunists. Wild boars are social animals with females and piglets living in groups called “sounders”. The males join the groups during breeding season, besides which are normally solitary. These sounders number around 20 animals which would contain one dominant female who leads to group.
Young piglets are coloured differently from adults in that they have marbled chocolate and lengthwise cream stripes. These stripes fade away by the time the piglet is around six months old when the pig would take on the adult grizzled grey.
The adult males are known to grow long tusks which protrude from the mouth from their upper incisors and lower canine teeth. They serve many purposes, from weapons to tools to dig roots and grubs. The tusks are ground against each other resulting in razor sharp edges. Measuring around 6-10 cm these formidable weapons are a force to be reckoned with.
I experienced the effectiveness of this weapon first hand in Wilpattu National Park where we drove into the open fields of Panikka Villu and found a large boar lying on the roadside. Appearances were such that we assumed he was dead as he had two crows perched atop its motionless body. Our jeep driver became curious and drove up to the apparent carcass to get a closer look. To our utter shock the crazed pig got up in frenzy, spouting blood and screaming bloody murder, and crashed hard into the jeep.
The power of the impact shook the vehicle violently and we heard a loud bang and a hiss as the boar slashed the tyre. Fearing the boar would jump into the open vehicle in its craze we all moved to the opposite side of the vehicle. I have never witnessed such fury even from an angry elephant.
After he did justice to the tyre, the boar stumbled on the plains and fell down once again. It took us a few minutes to grasp what happened. Our driver was in despair as he lost a brand new tyre, but this was better than what could have happened if our tracker had got down from the jeep to get a closer look.
Photographs examined few days later back at home revealed a deep stab wound on the boar’s side. The most probable cause would be a fight with another male. Despite its life-threatening wounds it managed to sum up enough energy to charge and destroy the tyre, which shows how dangerous even an apparently dead boar could be. The power and sheer ferocity of this animal should never be underestimated.
When a boar goes to war, all hell breaks loose!
(Read more from Rajiv at www.wildlifediaries.blogspot.com. You can view his photography portfolio at www.flickr.com/photos/rajivw and contact him via email on [email protected].)
