Wild boar

Wild boar roamed all over Britain until over-hunting and habitat loss lead to their demise by the 17th Century.

Since the 1970s, when enterprising farmers discovered a gap in the market for wild boar meat, these equally enterprising creatures have been escaping from farms.

There have been sightings in Monmouthshire, and a wild boar was run over at Trellech. Others have been spotted at Cledon Bog and Peckett Stone, on the Welsh side of the border.

Wild boars eat roots, grubs, seeds, bulbs and invertebrates. Rooting up the earth can encourage new species to grow and increase biodiversity, but in large numbers, boar can cause damage.

They live in matriarchal groups called sounders. At dusk the dominant sow will lead her group of 2-3 other sows and all their young to find food and suitable habitat.

Male wild boars grow tusks from both their upper and lower jaws. The upper tusks are hollow and are used as a tool to keep the lower tusks very sharp. Although females lack these upper sharpening tusks, even their comparatively small lower tusks are rather sharp.