Laurent SCHLEY

Research associate of the

Research > Wild Boar in Luxembourg

The aim of this project is to determine the status and distribution of the wild boar (Sus scrofa) in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg.

Distribution

I investigated the status of the wild boar using official hunting statistics. The wild boar shows a clear pattern of spatial distribution in Luxembourg, with numbers of animals shot being greatest in the Northern-central part and along the river Moselle. Total number of individuals shot has increased exponentially over the past 30 years, whereas hunting pressure has remained relatively constant, thus indicating a huge population increase of the wild boar in Luxembourg. We suggest the increase is due to several factors, namely good availability of the wild boar's natural food resources, oak and beech mast, rapidly increasing availability of less natural foods such as maize, significant year-round supplementary feeding, high behavioural plasticity of the species, development of dense shrub, i.e. hiding places, following destruction of large forest areas by storms in 1990 all over the country, high reproductive rate of the species and several other factors.

Sponsors

Administration des Eaux et Forêts, Luxembourg, Administration des Services Techniques de l'Agriculture, Lux., Institut Viti-Vinicole, Lux., Ministère de l'Education Nationale, Lux. (main sponsor), Ministère de l'Environnement, Lux., Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, Lux., University of Sussex, United Kingdom.