What is the social structure of feral pigs?
A. Feral pigs are social animals and form a variety of groups. The most common is one or more sows and their piglets but groups may also consist of young sows, bachelor males and other combinations. Bachelor males generally stay together until they are about 18 months old after which they tend to be solitary and only join groups for mating or to feed on localised sources of food. The size of feral pig groups varies considerably across Australia. In the open country of western NSW, the group size is usually about 10 but may increase to 50 or more especially if the range of the animals is restricted to remaining water points due to drought. In the cooler forests, group size rarely exceeds 12 animals.
Feral pigs are social animals and form a variety of groups. The most common grouping is one or more sows and their piglets, but groups may also consist of young sows, bachelor males and other combinations. Bachelor males generally stay together until they are about 18 months old after which they tend to be solitary and only join groups for mating or to feed on localised sources of food. The size of feral pig groups varies considerably across Australia. In the open country of western NSW the group size is usually about 10, but may increase to 50 or more especially if the range of the animals is restricted to remaining water points during drought.
