page_title: Feral pig
section_title: North America
hierarchical_section_title: Feral pig / In the New World / North America
caption_attribution_description: English: Image title: Wild hogs family Image from Public domain images website, http://www.public-domain-image.com/full-image/fauna-animals-public-domain-images-pictures/pigs-public-domain-images-pictures/wild-hogs-family.jpg.html
context_page_description: The feral pig is a pig living in the wild, but which has descended from escaped domesticated swine in both the Old and New Worlds. Razorback and wild hog are American colloquialisms, loosely applied to any type of feral domestic pig, wild boar, or hybrid in North America; pure wild boar are sometimes called "Russian boar" or "Russian razorbacks". The term "razorback" has also appeared in Australia, to describe feral pigs there.
context_section_description: Domestic pigs were first introduced to the Americas in the 16th century. Christopher Columbus intentionally released domestic swine in the West Indies during his second voyage to provide future expeditions with a freely available food supply. Hernando de Soto is known to have introduced Eurasian domestic swine to Florida in 1539, although Juan Ponce de León may have introduced the first pigs into mainland Florida in 1521.
  The practice of introducing domestic pigs into the New World persisted throughout the exploration periods of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Eurasian wild boar (S. s. scrofa), which originally ranged from Great Britain to European Russia, may have also been introduced. By the 19th century, their numbers were sufficient in some areas such as the Southern United States to become a common game animal.
  Feral pigs are a growing problem on the southern prairies in Canada and in the United States. As of 2013, the estimated population of 6 million feral pigs causes billions of dollars in property and agricultural damage every year in the United States, both in wild and agricultural lands. Their ecological damage maybe equally problematic with 26% lower vertebrate species richness in forest fragments they have invaded. Because pigs forage by rooting for their food under the ground with their snouts and tusks, a sounder (group) of feral pigs can damage acres of planted fields in just a few nights. Because of the feral pig's omnivorous nature, it is a danger to both plants and animals endemic to the area it is invading. Game animals such as deer and turkeys, and more specifically, flora such as the Opuntia plant have been especially affected by the feral hog's aggressive competition for resources. Feral pigs have been determined to be potential hosts for at least 34 pathogens that can be transmitted to livestock, wildlife, and humans. For commercial pig farmers, great concern exists that some of the hogs could be a vector for swine fever to return to the U.S., which has been extinct in America since 1978. Feral pigs could also present an immediate threat to "nonbiosecure" domestic pig facilities because of their likeliness to harbor and spread pathogens, particularly the protozoan Sarcocystis.
  By the early 2000s, the range of feral pigs included all of the US south of 36°
  north. The range begins in the mountains surrounding California and crosses over the mountains, continuing consistently much farther east towards the Louisiana bayous and forests, terminating in the entire Florida peninsula. In the East, the range expands northward to include most of the forested areas and swamps of the Southeast, and from there goes north along the Appalachian Mountains as far as upstate New York, with a growing presence in states bordering West Virginia and Kentucky. Texas has the largest estimated population of 2.5–2.6 million feral pigs existing in 253 of its 254 counties, and they cause about $50 million in agriculture damage per year. Outside mainland US, Hawaii also has feral pigs introduced to Oahu soon after Captain Cook's discovery of Hawaii in 1778, where they prey on or eat endangered birds and plants.  The population of feral pigs has increased from 2 million pigs ranging over 20 states in 1990, to triple that number 25 years later, ranging over 38 states with new territories expanding north into Oregon, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Hampshire.  Some of these feral pigs have mixed with escaped Russian boars that have been introduced for hunters since the early 1990s.
  Feral pigs are opportunistic omnivorous, with about 85%-90% of their diet being plant matter, and the remainder animal. Their feeding behaviour therefore disrupts the entire food chain. Plants have difficulties regenerating from their wallowing, as North American flora did not evolve to withstand the destruction caused by rooting pigs, unlike Europe or Asia. Feral pigs in the US eat small animals such as wild turkey poults, toads, tortoises, and the eggs of reptiles and birds. This can deprive other wildlife that normally would feed upon these important f
caption: A family of wild pigs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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