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To my knowledge no wild boar were ever introduced into Australia.

Pigs escaped from farms, became feral and over time the black colouring becomes more common as does some other wild appearance aspects.

In Northern Australia the feral pigs have become more and more "boar" like in appearance. Perhaps Northern feral pigs carry some genes from Asian domesticated pigs which accentuated their wilder appearance. Certainly the average feral pigs in Northern Australia tends to be more boar like and also more often uniformly black. The Northern size maybe accenterated by quality feed in the tropical landscapes. Where I hunted pigs in Western part of the Top End we shot some 30 male boars, all black and many considerable size. A herd of some 300 feral pigs all were black. On a floodplain of mixed thick sward grassland, mud and water underneath swards of thick grass. We managed to get stuck in the mud in a Jeep Wrangler some hundred metres out. Took a couple of hours to jack the Jeep up, put logs underneath the tyres, and lay paperbark log tracks to get the vehicle out. The paperbark tree logs had to be sourced about a kilometre away in the wetlands.

In the South, feral pigs are usually smaller and can be all sorts of colour, black, piebald, white, spotted etc. Most are a lot smaller than the Northern examples. Hunters use all sorts of rifles, from .22 Magnums, .223's, to medium centrefires. For the Top End pigs and Far North Queensland feral pigs a medium calibre is called for. One or more of our NE members hunted on pig culls in Northen Western Australia and shot many hundreds of feral pigs, per trip, I assume these were similar to the Top End pigs but can't verify.

On Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, the feral pigs were introduced by whalers perhaps early in settlement, or before? Whalers and sealers released goats and pigs on islands as a possible food source in case of shipwreck and being marooned. Kangaroo Island feral pigs are all black. Show a lot of wilder characteristics, are excellent eating as they are pretty much free of swine diseases and infestations. Many mainland inland pigs can carry parasites or disease making it unwise to eat those animals so infected. Organs should be inspected before consumption. But because feral pigs are considered an agricultural pest, hunters tend to shoot them for a fun hunt, but leave the carcases to rot A lot of Aussie "hunters" think only of spotlighting as a means of shooting feral pigs. Myself I prefer to stalk them particular after dawn and before dusk. I have only hunted KI feral "boars" once. I would love to access them again and regularly. It is not cheap, as an expensive ferry ride is required to get over from the mainland, and then a drive across the island, in my case hunting right on the boundary of Flinders Chase National Park. I even had to unlock park gates to get access to the private farm land. An annual hunting trip there would be great. Load up the Engels with feral "boar" meat.

A lot of Aussie feral pigs were shoot as part of shooting meat for export. The pigs are hung on the vehicles and inspected at a "chiller" for any parasites, disease. And butchered, processed for export sale. A LOT of "boar" in Germany and perhaps other parts of Europe, sold in restaurants as "boar" were actually Aussie feral pig pork.

An Aussie term for the feral pig obtaining some or more "boar" like appearance is the "Razorback".

To my eye the "Razorback" still lacks the solid humpback shape of a European wild Boar. The KI feral pigs have been breeding for some one hundred to two hundred years to the wild and are half way there. Same as the Northern pigs. Give them another hundred or two hundred years and who knows? Some true wild boar genes would be great but very illegal.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
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