These wild boar were photographed in Devon. Note that they have very dark, almost black, coloured coats. Boar with coats this dark are usually of eastern european origin.
Wild boar coats can be described as brindled and bristly with a thick underlying brown pelage. However, coat colours can vary considerably and this page illustrates typical wild boar coat colours as well as a few anomolies.
Black
These wild boar were photographed in Devon. Note that they have very dark, almost black, coloured coats. Boar with coats this dark are usually of eastern european origin.
Brown
This wild boar was photographed in East Sussex. The coat colour is lighter and more brown, which is typical of boar from western europe.
White
An East Sussex 'white' wild boar under anaesthetic after being ear-tagged for research purposes.These 'white' wild boar are found on the Kent/East Sussex border. They are not albino's as they don't have red eyes and posses some dark pigment (melanin) in their coats. The white coats are a result of a mutation in their coat-colour genes. Because they are part of a relatively small population (i.e. small gene pool), the mutation is expressed more frequently than would be in a larger population. At feeding stations, I observed approximately one in four of the Kent/East Sussex population in one particular study area where 'white'.
Comparison of a normal coat colour and a white coat (© Martin Goulding).
'White' wild boar piglets (foreground) from East Sussex are noticably lighter than their wild-type siblings (background).
Albino
An albino wild boar photographed in Japan (© unknown).
Spotted (Black spots on white coat)
Very rarely, 'spotty' wild boar occur. I have not seen any free-living wild boar in the UK of this appearance, but I have seen them in UK wild boar farms. If seen in the wild, it would naturally be assumed that they were an escaped domestic variety or domestic pig/wild boar hybrid. However, spotted boar occasionally occur on wild boar farms from, as far as can be known, pure-bred stock that has bred true for many generations. Implying the spots are due to a genetic mutation as opposed to an inpurity in the blood-line.
A spotted sow, photographed in Poland, amusing the local cyclists (© unknown. If yours, please advise on legality of use).
A tame spotted male boar, photographed in Germany, sporting a radio-collar (© unknown. If yours, please advise on legality of use).
A spotted wild boar piglet with 'normal' siblings and mum at a wild boar farm in Britain (© Martin Goulding).
The above four coat colours, and their various depths of shade, are all that wild boar come in. Not so for wild boar x domestic pig hybrids or feral pigs (escaped domestic pigs living wild). Coat colour in hybrids and feral pigs varies enormously depending on breed of domestic pig that initially escaped. May be entirely of one colour: black, brown or white are common, or with coloured spots, patches, stripes, saddles and shoulder belts. Escaped domestic pigs which have bred in the wild for several generations lose their domestic appearance and develop thick bristly coats, and larger head, neck and shoulders. Piglets usually do not possess the characteristic brown and yellow longitudinal stripes of pure wild boar piglets, though there are rare exceptions to this rule. In Britain there are no populations of feral pigs.
Feral pigs in America,