Banded pig

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Banded pig
Sus scrofa - Pulau Ubin.jpg
A banded pig on Pulau Ubin, Singapore
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Suidae
Genus: Sus
Species:
Subspecies:
S. s. vittatus
Trinomial name
Sus scrofa vittatus
Boie, 1828
Synonyms
  • Sus scrofa andersoni
  • Sus scrofa jubatulus
  • Sus scrofa milleri
  • Sus scrofa pallidiloris
  • Sus scrofa peninsularis
  • Sus scrofa rhionis
  • Sus scrofa typicus
Juvenile in Pulau Ubin island, Singapore Wild boar (Sus scrofa vittatus) juvenile.jpg
Juvenile in Pulau Ubin island, Singapore

The banded pig (Sus scrofa vittatus) also known as the Indonesian wild boar is a subspecies of wild boar native to the Thai-Malay Peninsula and many Indonesian islands, including Sumatra, Java, and has been introduced to the Lesser Sundas in ancient times. It is known as the wild boar in Singapore. It is the most basal subspecies, having the smallest relative brain size, more primitive dentition, and unspecialised cranial structure. [1] It is a short-faced subspecies with a white band on the muzzle, [2] as well as sparse body hair, no underwool, a fairly long mane, and a broad reddish band extending from the muzzle to the sides of the neck. [3] It is much smaller than the mainland S. s. cristatus subspecies, with the largest specimens on Komodo weighing only 48 kg. [4]

In some areas, it differs from most other boar populations by being highly frugivorous, with specimens in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java eating around 50 different fruit species, especially figs, thus making them important seed dispersers. [5] On the islands of Komodo and Rinca, its diet is more varied, encompassing roots, tubers, grasses, insects, fruits, snakes, and carrion. It also frequently eats crabs during low tide. Piglets are born from December to March in litters of two to six, and are raised in grass nests constructed by their mother. They are much less vividly striped than the young of S. s. scrofa . [4]

On the islands of Komodo, Rinca, and Flores, the banded pig is a primary food source for Komodo dragons. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Sus</i> (genus) Genus of even-toed ungulates

Sus is the genus of wild and domestic pigs, within the even-toed ungulate family Suidae. Sus include domestic pigs and their ancestor, the common Eurasian wild boar, along with other species. Sus species, like all suids, are native to the Eurasian and African continents, ranging from Europe to the Pacific islands. Suids other than the pig are the babirusa of Indonesia, the pygmy hog of South Asia, the warthogs of Africa, and other pig genera from Africa. The suids are a sister clade to peccaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wild boar</span> Species of mammal

The wild boar, also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is now one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world, as well as the most widespread suiform. It has been assessed as least concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide range, high numbers, and adaptability to a diversity of habitats. It has become an invasive species in part of its introduced range. Wild boars probably originated in Southeast Asia during the Early Pleistocene and outcompeted other suid species as they spread throughout the Old World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bushpig</span> Species of mammal

The bushpig is a member of the pig family that inhabits forests, woodland, riverine vegetation and cultivated areas in East and Southern Africa. Probably introduced populations are also present in Madagascar. There have also been unverified reports of their presence on the Comoro island of Mayotte. Bushpigs are mainly nocturnal. There are several subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pygmy hog</span> Species of mammal

The pygmy hog is a very small and endangered species of pig and the only species in the genus Porcula. Endemic to India, the pygmy hog is a suid native of the alluvial grasslands in the foothills of the Himalayas, at elevations of up to 300 m (980 ft). Populations of pygmy hogs were once widespread in the tall, dense, wet grasslands in a narrow belt of the southern Himalayan foothills from north-western Uttar Pradesh to Assam, through southern Nepal and North Bengal, and possibly extending into contiguous habitats in southern Bhutan. Due to human encroachment and destruction of the pygmy hogs’ natural habitat, the species was thought to have gone extinct in the early 1960s. However, in 1971, a small pygmy hog population was rediscovered as they were fleeing a fire near the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam. Today, the only known population of pygmy hogs resides in Manas National Park in Assam, India. The population is threatened by livestock grazing, fires and poaching. With an estimated population of less than 250 mature individuals, the pygmy hog is listed as an Endangered species on the IUCN Red List, and conservation efforts such as captive breeding and re-release programs are currently being employed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bornean bearded pig</span> Species of mammal

The Bornean bearded pig, also known as the Sunda bearded pig or simply bearded pig, is a species in the pig genus, Sus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine warty pig</span> Species of mammal

The Philippine warty pig is one of four known species in the pig genus (Sus) endemic to the Philippines. They have tufts of hair on the top of their head and on the lower sides of their jaws, as well as four warts on their faces. Their skulls are elongated; males have tusks and bigger skulls than females, an example of sexual dimorphism. They are considered Vulnerable by the IUCN, and their population is currently declining due to multiple threats. The pigs are probably nocturnal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celebes warty pig</span> Suid from Sulawesi (Sus celebensis)

The Celebes warty pig, also called Sulawesi warty pig or Sulawesi pig, is a species in the pig genus (Sus) that lives on Sulawesi in Indonesia. It survives in most habitats and can live in altitudes of up to 2,500 m (8,000 ft). It has been domesticated and introduced to a number of other islands in Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javan warty pig</span> Species of mammal

The Javan warty pig, also called Javan wild pig, is an even-toed ungulate in the family Suidae. It is endemic to the Indonesian islands Java and Bawean, and is considered extinct on Madura. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boar–pig hybrid</span> Hybridised offspring

Boar–pig hybrid is a hybridized offspring of a cross between the Eurasian wild boar and any domestic pig. Feral hybrids exist throughout Eurasia, the Americas, Australia, and in other places where European settlers imported wild boars to use as game animals. In many areas, a variable mixture of these hybrids and feral pigs of all-domesticated original stock have become invasive species. Their status as pest animals has reached crisis proportions in Australia, parts of Brazil, and parts of the United States, and the animals are often freely hunted in hopes of eradicating them or at least reducing them to a controllable population.

A pig is a mammal of the genus Sus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palawan bearded pig</span> Species of mammal

The Palawan bearded pig is a pig species in the genus Sus endemic to the Philippines, where it occurs on the archipelago of islands formed by Balabac, Palawan, and the Calamian Islands. It is 1 to 1.6 m in length, about 1 m (3.3 ft) tall and weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser Sundas deciduous forests</span> Ecoregion in Lesser Sundas, Indonesia

The Lesser Sundas deciduous forests is a tropical dry forest ecoregion in Indonesia. The ecoregion includes the islands of Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, and Alor, along with the many adjacent smaller islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Togian babirusa</span> Species of mammal

The Togian babirusa, also known as the Malenge babirusa, is the largest species of babirusa. It is endemic to the Togian Islands of Indonesia, but was considered a subspecies of Babyrousa babyrussa until 2002. Compared to the better-known north Sulawesi babirusa, the Togian babirusa is larger, has a well-developed tail-tuft, and the upper canines of the male are relatively "short, slender, rotated forwards, and always converge". The Togian babirusa is omnivorous, feeding mainly on roots and fallen fruit but also on worms and invertebrates. Unlike other pig species, the Togian babirusa does not root at the ground with its snout when foraging, but instead can be seen pawing at the ground to uproot plants.

A wild pig may be:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian boar</span> Subspecies of wild boar

The Indian boar, also known as the Moupin pig, is a subspecies of wild boar native to India, Nepal, Myanmar, western Thailand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese boar</span> Subspecies of wild boar

The Japanese boar, also known as the white-moustached pig, nihon-inoshishi (ニホンイノシシ), or yama kujira, is a subspecies of wild boar native to all of Japan, apart for Hokkaido and the Ryukyu Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central European boar</span> Subspecies of wild boar

The Central European boar is a subspecies of wild boar, currently distributed across almost all of mainland Europe, with the exception of some northern areas in both Scandinavia and European Russia and the southernmost parts of Greece. It is a medium-sized, dark to rusty-brown haired subspecies with long and relatively narrow lacrimal bones. In Northern Italy, artificially introduced S. s. scrofa have extensively interbred with the smaller sized indigenous S. s. majori populations since the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Asian boar</span>

The Central Asian boar is a small long maned subspecies of wild boar indigenous to Southeastern Iran, Pakistan and Northwest India.

References

  1. Hemmer, H. (1990), Domestication: The Decline of Environmental Appreciation, Cambridge University Press, pp. 55-59, ISBN   0521341787
  2. Groves, C. (2008). Current views on the taxonomy and zoogeography of the genus Sus. pp. 15–29 in Albarella, U., Dobney, K, Ervynck, A. & Rowley-Conwy, P. Eds. (2008). Pigs and Humans: 10,000 Years of Interaction. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-920704-6
  3. Groves, C. P. et al. 1993. The Eurasian Suids Sus and Babyrousa. In Oliver, W. L. R., ed., Pigs, Peccaries, and Hippos - 1993 Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, 107-108. IUCN/SSC Pigs and Peccaries Specialist Group, ISBN   2-8317-0141-4
  4. 1 2 3 Affenberg, W. (1981), The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor, University Press of Florida, pp. 248, ISBN   081300621X
  5. Oliver, W. L. R. et al. 1993. The Eurasian Wild Pig (Sus scrofa). In Oliver, W. L. R., ed., Pigs, Peccaries, and Hippos - 1993 Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan, 112-121. IUCN/SSC Pigs and Peccaries Specialist Group, ISBN   2-8317-0141-4