Boar: an animal whose adaptations can be called perfect (10 photos)

Modern research shows that wild pigs originated somewhere in Southeast Asia. They are subtropical, if not tropical animals. Now the question is: what are the hot equatorial guys doing in the taiga, where the temperature can drop below 40 degrees in winter?





So that's what tropical animals are like!

The answer is even more obvious than the question: they live there. And with the maximum comfort that an animal can achieve. Of course, you can counter: people also came from hot Africa. But try going out into the cold naked! Physically, we have hardly adapted to the cold of the northern regions. But the boars have populated the entire middle belt of Eurasia and North America. And all this without hats, scarves and long johns!



I will definitely wait for my bus...

How did they do it? The pigs hit the jackpot in the evolutionary lottery. They got a whole bunch of preadaptations at their disposal - the body's properties that are developed for survival in one environment, but turn out to be unexpectedly convenient for completely different tasks.





Sanya, why did you go by the navigator?! Now we would be basking in the sun at home, and not freezing our sides God knows where!

Let's start with the fact that pigs have a cool habit of forming fat. Unlike regular fat deposits, fat is distributed under the entire surface of the skin. This is very convenient - this way you can store up a ton of energy without the penalty of a belly that will drag along the ground when you walk. When moving to the northern regions, subcutaneous reserves turned out to be even more useful. After all, fat is not only an energy reserve, but also a reliable heat insulator. To gain the necessary weight for the frosts, northern pigs eat 3-4 times more in the fall than in other periods.



Did you ask to share lard like a brother? Do you want to repeat the request?

With wool, everything turned out a little more complicated. The fur of southern boars can hardly be called wool. The thin short undercoat only protects from the slight night chill, and the prickly guard hair protects from rain and dirt, but not from frost. To turn protective overalls into a decent fur coat, you need to do only 3 things. Increase the density of the undercoat - one. We make the guard hairs longer and thicker - two. Add seasonal molting - three. Done! Now tropical fur is relevant even in the taiga. And it only takes a couple of hundred thousand years of evolution.



Just look at his fluffy... everything!

Even the animals' lifestyle turned out to be useful in the north. Wild boars are herd animals. Their collective lifestyle allows them to effectively obtain food in the calorie-poor north. In the summer, when there is plenty of food, the pigs wander off in all directions. But in the winter, they gather in groups of 15-30 heads: seasoned boars join the herds of females and cubs. And there are a lot of advantages to living together in the cold!



I'm not sleeping, I'm looking for truffles very carefully!

Walking in company is not only more fun, but also easier. Stocky pigs have trouble moving through high snowdrifts, but if you stomp in single file one after another, the task becomes easier. Fighting off a predator in a friendly group is also easier. This is especially important in winter: wolves' diet during this period consists of 90% large ungulates. But the most important thing is that you won't freeze together! In severe frost, wild boars huddle together and keep each other warm, pressing their sides against each other's barrels.



This gang will make any wolf leave the forest and perform in a circus.

If the sides of a fellow are not enough for warmth, wild boars build shelters - burrows up to a meter deep. They save them from the close attention of predators and from low temperatures in the inhospitable north. Only thanks to burrows can females give birth in early spring, when night frosts are still dangerous for newborns.



If weather conditions do not allow pigs to dig holes, they organize special beds.

But all these numerous devices would not be worth a dime without the incredible unpretentiousness of pigs. They have an extremely small list of requirements for the environment. All wild boars need is a source of water + a forest overgrown with dense bushes. This is where the list ends. As you understand, northern forests are quite suitable for living areas.



A herd of striped micro pigs attacked a sow and sucked all the milk out of her. It's so awful!

And almost anything can become food for pigs! Their digestive system is set up for omnivorousness with a bias towards vegetarianism. Any berries, fruits, roots, tubers, branches, bark will suit them. Pigs also like animal food. Wild boars will happily snack on insects, worms, frogs, lizards, eggs and just carrion. The diet of wild pigs includes hundreds, if not thousands of species of plants and animals!



It's not what you think! We were just sniffing snow!

As a result, we got an interesting, almost paradoxical situation: warm, humid forests gave birth to a species adapted to life even in the far north.