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Habitat and Behaviour This is an animal of the desert and its fringes,
a habitat to which it is particularly well adapted – it has large,
rounded feet, nostrils that can close and the ability to go for long
periods without water, drawing its needs from plant food. It grazes
and browses, and can eat plants with a high salt content that other
herbivores will not touch. Left to their own devices, camels may form
into three kinds of herds: bachelor groups, females with newborn
calves and females with young older than one year. A single adult bull
that will drive off other approaching males leads all groups. The peak
birth season is February–May over much of the range, but in north-
east Sahara it is January–March. Calves have an average weight of
37 kg at birth.
Distribution and Status Found across the region.
EVEN-TOED NON-RUMINANTS (Suiformes)
Pigs are even-toed non-ruminants that have similar hoofs to
antelopes, but they do not chew the cud. Unlike antelopes and deer,
pigs have upper incisors.
EURASIAN WILD PIG OR WILD BOAR Sus scrofa
Identification This is a large typical pig that is covered with coarse,
bristle-like, grizzled-brown to grey-brown hair. The piglets are dark
brown with distinctive yellowish-brown longitudinal stripes. The snout
is long, and although the tusks (canine teeth) are relatively short, in
adults they protrude beyond the lips. The lower tusks of boars may
reach 25 cm or more in length. Boars are considerably larger than
sows.
Size Shoulder height 70–90 cm.
Weight 60 –130 kg.
Habitat and Behaviour In their north-west African range, Wild Pigs
occupy mainly oak and other forests; scrubland and small, isolated
thickets are also utilized. They avoid semi-desert areas with little
cover. In Turkey and Iran they occupy mainly broadleaf woodlands
(especially areas dominated by oak trees), marshes with reed beds,
dense scrub and riverine thickets. Wild Pigs are omnivores that eat
a wide range of plant and animal foods, although the former usually
dominate and include leaves, tubers, bulbs, fruits and seeds. In some
areas they are regarded as a nuisance on cultivated lands. They
are nocturnal, but if not disturbed or hunted they may be active in
the cooler daylight hours. They live in groups or sounders of 6–20
individuals, which include one or more adult sows. Boars retain a loose
association with these sounders. In Iran and probably elsewhere in
the region, piglets are born in early spring. The sows may give birth
to 4–10 young, and birth weight depends on litter size. Gestation is
about 112 days.