ABSTRACT
If one wanted to design the perfect invasive animal species, i.e., a highly adaptable generalist (e.g., could live almost anywhere and eat almost anything), able to quickly increase population size and rapidly expand its range, difficult to control and manage, and causes extensive and diverse damage to natural and anthropogenic environments, one need look no further than wild pigs (Sus scrofa; Figure 1.1). As members of the species S. scrofa, wild pigs in North America share both a conspecific kinship with domestic pigs as well as folklore and mythology of native Eurasian wild boar of the Old World. In the scientific and public literature, individuals of the species are referred to as wild pigs, wild hogs, wild boar, feral swine, feral pigs, and other derivations of this theme. In this book, we call free-ranging suids “wild pigs” (Keiter et al. 2016). We use “wild boar” when discussing literature from the native range of S. scrofa, or when referring to recent introductions of pigs with European lineage. Images of wild pigs: (a) depicts one of more pure Eurasian lineage, (b) is of typical, thin-haired wild pigs found in southern North America, (c) demonstrates characteristics of domestic pig pelage, and (d) shows typical pelage of young wild pigs. (Photos (a–c) by the US Department of Agriculture and (d) by J. Gaskamp. With permission.) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-u.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315233055/4da4ee64-2bae-4381-9f37-c35d3db8697a/content/fig1_1_C.jpg"/>
