SREL Reprint #2250

Variation in body mass of wild boars from Southern France

Francois Spitz1, Gilbert Valet1, and I. Lehr Brisbin, Jr.2

1Institut de Recherches sur les Grands Mammiferes, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique,
B.P. 27, 31326 CASTANET Cedex, France
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA

Abstract: Variation in body mass was studied in >2,500 wild boars (Sus scrota) in two climatic regions in southern France. Growth rates were determined from age estimates based on weights of eye lenses. In sclerophyllous forest under Mediterranean climate, there was an autumnal reduction in growth rate that was not observed in animals from deciduous forest under montane or Atlantic climates. Those differences may have been the result of summer drought causing juveniles in the Mediterranean region to forego some of their statural growth to permit rebuilding reserves of mesenteric adipose tissue, thus ensuring reproductive fitness.

Keywords: Sus, wild boar, growth, seasonal variation, geographical variation

SREL Reprint #2250

Spitz, F., G. Valet, and I.L. Brisbin, Jr. 1998. Variation in body mass of wild boars from Southern France. Journal of Mammalogy 79:251-259.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).