Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Research Article

Wild Pigs (Sus scrofa)-A Missing link in Ecology Conflict, Crisis and Conservation

Boon Allwin^1*, Jayathangaraj MG¹, Palanivelrajan M¹, Vijayarani K², Raman M³ and Serma Saravana Pandian A⁴

¹Department of Wildlife Science, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, India

²Professor, Department of Animal Biotechnology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, India

³Professor, Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, India

⁴Department of Animal Husbandry Economics, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, India

*Corresponding Author:

Boon Allwin
Department of Wildlife Science
Madras Veterinary College
Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Tel: 044 2538 1506
E-mail: boonallwin@gmail.com

Received Date: July 31, 2015 Accepted Date: August 13, 2015 Published Date: August 15, 2015

Citation: Allwin B, Jayathangaraj MG, Palanivelrajan M, Vijayarani K, Raman M, et al. (2015) Wild Pigs (Sus scrofa)-A Missing link in Ecology Conflict, Crisis and Conservation. J Ecosys Ecograph 5:165. doi:10.4172/2157-7625.1000165

Copyright: © 2015 Allwin B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Over the past few years, much emphasis has been given to the studies related to conservation, especially, to those that are non-invasive that measure glucocorticoids as bio markers of stress. Glucocorticoids typically increase in response to challenge and are sometimes used to predict mortality. These levels reveal fitness of an individual in terms of survival and reproductive success. The study was carried out to assess the faecal cortisol concentration in order to arrive at the baseline values pertaining to stress factors in wild pigs entering the agricultural fields around the forest regions and in domestic pigs comprising of desi pigs and cross bred pigs. The adjoining areas of Mudumalai wildlife region, Sathyamangalam wildlife region and Anaimalai wildlife region of Tamil Nadu, India were included in this study programme. The mean faecal cortisol concentration in the case of wild pigs that entered these areas were found using ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay). The wild pigs are always in conflict with agricultural production and cause unequalled damage. The occurrences of wild pig-human conflicts were also assessed. The findings demonstrated that fecal glucocorticoid assays provide an index of physiological stress in wild pigs and may prove useful in addressing conservation and conflict issues. To know the ecological and functional position of wild pigs in the ecosystem is very important as these animals are habitat generalists, prolific breeders and survive in almost any environment, of late these animals have been involved in a huge conflict with the humans especially pertaining to agricultural holdings. This paper aims at finding the triggering, corresponding and confounding factors that cause these pigs to wander into buffer areas and agricultural fields instead of forest regions causing disruption in the ecological equilibrium and ultimately ending up in conflict more severe than the previous one.

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