The United States Geological Survey (USGS) informed that another non-indigenous species of pigs has been spotted in the country- “super pigs” from their neighbouring country Canada. Also known as wild pigs, the invasive species has caused significant damage in the North American region by eating crops and spreading diseases, it was reported.
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Super pigs are a result of cross-breeding domestic pigs with wild boars and are said to be “incredibly intelligent, highly elusive” creatures, a report in the Guardian said, adding that the crossbreed was created in Canada to help pigs survive in subzero temperatures.
Dr Ryan Brook, who leads the University of Saskatchewan’s Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, said that this hybridisation in the 1980s resulted in bigger super pigs, in an interview with Field and Stream.
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Animals with larger bodies “survive the cold better and have better reproduction in those conditions”, he explained adding, “They’re incredibly intelligent. They’re highly elusive, and also when there’s any pressure on them, especially if people start hunting them, they become almost completely nocturnal”.
One of the pigs found was said to weigh more than 300 kg, he said. These super pigs could enter the US at a time when the country is reeling under a swine invasion which has cost the country close to $1.5 billion in damages.
These super pigs “feed on anything. They gobble up tons and tons of goslings and ducklings in the spring. They can take down a whitetail deer, even an adult,” Dr Ryan Brook said adding that they also create a lot of environmental damage like eating crops grown by farmers, destroying trees, and even polluting water.
