Released June 12, 2007

AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. -- While the prospect of a gargantuan-sized wild pig has garnered lots of news headlines within the last few weeks, one expert advises us not to expect an encounter with any such animal in nature anytime soon.

While a super-sized wild hog is certainly conceivable and possible in extremely rare cases, the operative words here are “extremely rare,” according to Jim Armstrong, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System wildlife specialist and Auburn University professor of forestry and wildlife sciences. Monster-sized pigs tend to be far more the exception — make that rare exception — rather than the rule, he says.

Armstrong, who has conducted several studies within the past few years in Alabama and neighboring Georgia, says Hogzillas are extremely rare for several reasons. First and foremost, there is competition. Like most animals in natural settings, wild pigs — feral pigs, as they’re commonly known — have to compete with other animals for rare food sources. That reason alone tends to limit their size.

While it’s possible to raise a hog this size in captivity — which has, in fact, been successfully attempted many times — Armstrong has a hard time believing that wild hogs could gain this weight on their own without the helping hand of humans.

“It would be extremely rare, given the hunting pressure on hogs and the competition for food and resources,” he says.

In fact, a lot of the legends associated with half-ton feral hogs may be entirely that — legends.

In cases where encounters with gargantuan hogs allegedly have occurred, the animals have been either buried or butchered before they could be independently weighed. Until such verification occurs, wildlife experts such as Armstrong will continue to harbor doubts about such animals.

In those cases where super-sized hogs have been killed in the wild, most of these animals gained the bulk of their weight while still in captivity, before they intentionally were released or escaped into the wild, Armstrong says.

That’s not to detract from the wild hog’s enormous capacity for weight gain. As a matter of fact, hogs are well-suited for surviving in the wild and competing with other animals for food sources. Armstrong says the animals are total opportunists, capable of devouring a wide variety of foods, everything from garbage piles and vegetables to small animals.

One expert has described them as born rototillers that leave very little of anything in their wake.

Their combination of genetics — in many cases, domestic pig genes mixed with those of wild boars imported from Europe — has resulted in an animal that is especially well-equipped to survive just about any challenge nature throws in their direction. Moreover, this unique combination — the feeding and breeding efficiency of domestic pigs, coupled with the fierceness of wild boars — has produced an animal that is especially well-suited for survivability and reproduction.

“Once they get up to about 30 or 40 pounds, there’s not a whole lot out there that is going to mess with them,” Armstrong says. Thanks to the genetic contribution of their domestic pig forebears, the animals are able to reproduce faster than hunting and trapping can eliminate them.

Monster pigs or not, the animals are wreaking havoc in the environment, but Armstrong and other wildlife experts are at a loss to know quite what to do with them.

Unfortunately, people aren’t helping matters. In fact, Armstrong and other wildlife experts believe many hunters actually are contributing to the problem in a big way by purchasing domestic hogs on the market and releasing them into the wild so that they can be hunted later.

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http://www.aces.edu/department/extcomm/npa/daily/archives/003085.php

Contact: Jim Langcuster, (334) 844-5686, langcjc@auburn.edu