Wild Boar

The wild boar, Sus scrofa, is a suid species native to Eurasia and North Africa that has since been introduced worldwide, also called wild swine, common wild pig or Eurasian wild pig, and is one of the most widely ranging mammals and the most widespread suiform in the world. It likely originated in Southeast Asia during the Early Pleistocene and spread across the Old World, outcompeting related species, and as of 2005 up to sixteen subspecies were recognized, grouped into four regional clusters by skull shape; it lives in habitats from boreal forest to desert across its native range and has become invasive after introduction to the Americas and Oceania. It is the ancestor of most domestic pig breeds and has been hunted as a big-game animal for millennia; the source lead does not itself detail culinary preparation, so this description covers only its status as a hunted and domestication-source species rather than an invented flavor or cooking profile.