Diurnal and nocturnal activity patterns of invasive Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) in Saskatchewan, Canada

Abstract

The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is invasive in western Canada and poses a significant ecological and socio-economic threat over much of the country. We sought to quantify their presence and to determine when they are most active and whether their activity patterns are influenced by group size. Digital trail cameras (n = 18) were placed in a stratified design in the four most dominant habitat types of central Saskatchewan, Canada, and activated between December 2011 and June 2013 for a total of 5715 trap-days. In 71,175 photographs, we obtained 22 individual visits of Wild Boars to the trail cameras. We found no differences in activity between night (1900–0700; 59% of all detections) and day (0701–1859; 41% of detections), and we did not detect any effect of group size. Ongoing monitoring will be required to determine changing activity patterns in response to changing hunting pressure as Wild Boar continue to expand across Canada.