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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note [Dutch] |
Another picture from the youngsters from an earlier visit to the Veluwe.
I hope you like this one.
Latin name - Sus scrofa
The Eurasian wild pig has one of the widest geographic distributions of all terrestrial mammals, and this range has been greatly expanded by human agency. The species now occurs in pure wild or barely modified feral form on all continents excepting Antarctica, and on many oceanic islands. It is the ancestor of most (but not all) ancient and modern domestic pig breeds, and there is evidence to suggest that it was independently domesticated in several different parts of its range, including Southeast Asia, the Far East and Asia Minor. As a wild form, it has constituted a primary resource of subsistence hunters since the earliest times, and it is one of the most important targets for recreational hunting wherever it remains sufficiently abundant. Over-hunting and changes in land use have resulted in the fragmentation of its range and its extermination throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia, parts of North Africa, and relatively extensive parts of its range in the former Soviet Union. and northern Japan. Nevertheless, the species remains widely distributed and is often locally abundant. As a result of its depredations on crops it is regarded as a pest in many countries, where it remains unprotected outside designated wildlife reserves or is managed as a game animal.
S. scrofa has by far the largest range of all pigs. It occurs throughout the steppe and broadleaved forest regions of the Palaearctic, from western Europe to the Russian Far East, extending southwards as far North Africa, the Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East, through India, Indo-China, Japan (including the Ryukyu Chain), Taiwan and the Greater Sunda Islands of South-east Asia. Populations east of Bali are probably all introduced. It has been extinct in the British Isles since sometime in the 17th century, despite attempted introductions of new stock from Europe (Harting, 1880) (though see below for more recent information). It is also extinct in southern Scandinavia (but see below), over extensive portions of its recent range in west-central and eastern parts of the former Soviet Union (Heptner et al., 1961), and in northern Japan (Chiba, 1964, 1975). The species was last reported in Libya in the 1880s, and it became extinct in Egypt in about 1902 (Hufnagl, 1972).
Groves and Grubb (1993) distinguished four 'subspecies groupings', based on both geographic and morphological criteria, as follows:
1. 'Western races' of Europe (scrofa and meridionalis), North Africa (algira) and the Middle East (lybicus), extending at least as far east as Soviet Central Asia (attila and nigripes);
2. 'Indian races' of the sub-Himalayan region from Iran in the west (davidi) to north India and adjacent countries as far east as Myanmar and west Thailand (cristatus), and south India and Sri Lanka (affinis and subsp. nov.);
3. 'Eastern races' of Mongolia and the Soviet Far East (sibiricus and ussuricus), Japan (leucomystax and riukiuanus), Taiwan (taivanus), to south-east China and Viet Nam (moupinensis); and
4. 'Indonesian race' (or banded pig) from the Malay Peninsular, Sumatra, Java, Bali and certain offshore islands (vittatus).
In Europe, it is widespread in most continental areas, with the exception of northern Fennoscandia and European Russia. As mentioined above, it disappeared from the British Isles and Scandinavia in the 17th century, although it has now been reintroduced to Sweden and escaped animals have established themselves in the wild in Britain (Spitz 1999). Animals have escaped from captivity in the UK and have established themselves in the wild. There are at least three small wild populations in England, on the Kent/East Sussex border, in Dorset, and in Hereford (Battersby 2005). It is native to Corsica and Sardinia, but the population in Sicily was introduced (Spitz 1999).
Introduced populations are not included in the distribution map.
Countries: Native:
Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Andorra; Armenia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bangladesh; Belarus; Belgium; Bhutan; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Cambodia; China; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Estonia; Finland; France (Corse); Georgia; Germany; Greece; Hong Kong; Hungary; India; Indonesia (Bali, Irian Jaya, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Sumatera); Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Israel; Italy (Sardegna, Sicilia - Introduced); Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Latvia; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malaysia; Moldova; Monaco; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Myanmar; Nepal; Netherlands; Pakistan; Palestinian Territory, Occupied; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russian Federation; San Marino; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sri Lanka; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Taiwan, Province of China; Tajikistan; Thailand; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Ukraine; Uzbekistan; Viet Nam
Regionally extinct:
Denmark; Egypt; Ireland; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Norway
Reintroduced:
Sweden; United Kingdom
Introduced:
Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Australia; Brazil; Colombia; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Ecuador (Galápagos); Fiji; Haiti; Jamaica; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; South Africa; Sudan; United States (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaiian Is., Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia); Virgin Islands, U.S. |
nazirbadar, siggi, cloud, goldyrs, boreocypriensis, jconceicao, CeltickRanger, Noisette has marked this note useful
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