Wild pigs have become an invasive pest, damaging everything from crops to homeowners yards and natural ecosystems.
The pigs can be elusive but knowing the weather can make capture easier.
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New weather research out of the University of Georgia found: “Air temperature and weather are significant factors in predicting where animals will be at any given time.”
Air pressure was used as a proxy for weather — a rising barometer typically signifies clear weather, while falling air pressure can mean an approaching storm.
The researchers found that as temperature rose and air pressure fell, pig movements shrank. When pigs see bad weather coming, they tend to concentrate their movements, probably in areas of cover to stay out of the elements.
Controlling the wild pig population is hampered by the rapid population growth in the U.S., where the species’ average birth rate produces five pigs per litter, twice per year.
The feral hog rooting activity is destructive to biological communities. Native animals such as white-tailed deer, turkeys, squirrels and wood ducks can’t compete with the pigs’ voracious appetite for snakes, salamanders and small mammals.
What’s more, they are extremely destructive to habitats and pose a serious threat to rare and endangered plants and animals.
For example, at the GTM Research Reserve in St. Johns County, European pig descendants first introduced by early Spanish explorers in Florida have damaged and moved into gopher tortoise burrows.
The scavengers have inadvertently caused shoreline erosion along Guana Lake by disturbing oyster beds that trap sediments. Their contribution on the inhabited west side of the lake is a lower bank compared to the eastern half.