Understanding the natural behaviour of wild boar and feral pigs illuminates the welfare needs of domestic pigs and the gap between natural and commercial environments.
Wild boar behaviour provides the evolutionary baseline against which domestic pig welfare can be assessed. Pigs have the same fundamental motivations as their wild ancestors — to root, forage, socialise, play, nest, and explore — but are placed in environments that prevent expression of most of these behaviours. The welfare deficit between wild and commercial conditions is stark: from kilometres of daily ranging to metres of barren concrete; from complex matrilineal societies to anonymous groups of mixed-origin pigs. Understanding the natural behaviour of pigs is not merely academic — it provides the specification for what welfare standards must aim to provide.