Wild boar, 2014

[sooty mangabey]

Here's another fairly arcane London Zoo question...

In the inventory for January 1st 2014, available via the ZSL website, five female wild boar are listed as being in the zoo's collection. They are given the scientific name Sus scrofa scrofa.

Given that no domestic pigs are listed (while, say, domestic goats are), and given that the zoo certainly has such domestic pigs, is it a safe assumption that this is simply a rather over-enthusiastic attribution of scientific names, or did (does?) the zoo have some wild boar hidden away for some reason?

 

[Panthera1981]

This may refer to Whipsnade's sows Hinge and Bracket plus the three piglets that were removed from their summer 2013 litters and housed on the Children's Farm. The boars aren't housed at the zoo over the winter as they are taken back to their owner to be mated.

Both Hinge and Bracket returned in the spring pregnant and subsequently gave birth.

 

[sooty mangabey]

...the inventories list wild boar as being present at both Whipsnade and London. The fact that no domestic pigs are listed leads me to think that these are simply mis-described animals; I can't see that wild boar would be brought from Whipsnade to London before heading to a farmer... but I may be wrong!

 

[Shirokuma]

I'm pretty sure there are kune kune pigs at the zoo if that helps.

 

[Pertinax]

I'm pretty sure there are kune kune pigs at the zoo if that helps.

Can confirm that, I saw Kune Kunes at London the other week.

 

[Tim May]

In the inventory for January 1st 2014, available via the ZSL website, five female wild boar are listed as being in the zoo's collection. They are given the scientific name Sus scrofa scrofa.

If you look at the inventory for last year you’ll see that there is an entry for five female “Kune Kune pigs (domestic)” with the scientific name Sus scrofa scrofa.

I assume that these are the same individuals listed as Sus scrofa scrofa in the current inventory.