Age-class influences on feeding choices of free-ranging wild boars (<i>Sus scrofa</i>)

Abstract

Diet composition and diversity were compared between juvenile, yearling, and adult wild boars living in the Camargue region (southern France). Despite close similarity, feeding choices differed in various respects. First, the mean stomach content included a greater proportion of animal matter in subadults (juveniles and yearlings combined) than in adults. Secondly, yearlings and adults ate larger proportions of rice, and larger quantities by weight of underground plant parts, than juveniles. These differences were attributed to differing nutritional requirements according to age-class. On the other hand, greater diversity of feeding choices was found in juveniles than within the yearling and adult age-classes. It is argued that early experience of a broad dietary diversity is an advantage for coping with fluctuations in food availability such as those encountered in the Camargue.