Fruits and roots: Wild boar foods during the cold season in the southwestern Pyrenees

Abstract

In order to understand wild boar's diet during the cold season and its alternatives to mast in a southern European mountain range, 234 wild boar stomachs we collected in autumn and winter during three consecutive hunting seasons. The study was undertaken in several valleys of the southwestern Pyrenees, a third of which was forest. Results indicated that diet mainly consisted of plant matter from the aerial parts of different forest plants. The most important items in terms of abundance and frequency of appearance were beechnuts Fagus sylvatica, acorns from white oak Quercus humilis and holm oak Q. ilex, and bracken Pteridium aquilinum roots. Those items represented 70.7% of the total volume. The alternative to hard mast was roots. The amount of animal matter in the diet was small but consumed frequently and consistently during the three hunting periods. Due to the abundance of forest fruits, alternative natural foods and the mosaic of forest, there was little crop damage in the area.