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Wild boars may traditionally be seen as secretive and elusive creatures but in the forests of the Region of Murcia, they are no longer in hiding. A new scientific study has lifted the curtain on their growing presence, offering the most accurate picture yet of how many are roaming two of the Region’s major protected natural parks.

 

Commissioned by the regional government, the study focused on the Sierra Espuña and Sierra del Carche Regional Parks. The results show that nearly two wild boars live in every square kilometre of these areas.

 

While this is well below the levels seen in some other parts of Spain, where densities can reach up to 19 animals per square kilometre, it’s still an extraordinary number given how popular the parks are with hikers and nature enthusiasts.

 

Led by the University of Murcia’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in collaboration with the Institute for Research in Game Resources, the project used a network of 80 camera traps evenly distributed across both parks. These devices recorded around 190 wild boar sightings in each area over a period of six weeks.

 

Alongside boars, the cameras also captured a rich variety of wildlife including Barbary sheep, mountain goats, foxes, badgers, martens, genets and hares.

 

In one particularly exciting discovery, a female roe deer was spotted in the Sierra del Carche. This is the first confirmed sighting of the species in that area in decades and adds an unexpected highlight to the findings.

 

What sets this study apart is its use of artificial intelligence through the AGOUTI wildlife monitoring platform. The technology helped researchers to automatically identify species, count animals and track their movements using the images captured. All data were then verified manually to ensure accuracy.

 

These days, more than 13,000 wild boars are currently ‘removed’ from the Region of Murcia each year through hunting, drives and special permits. However, until now, there had been no precise population estimates. This lack of data prompted the declaration of Murcia as a Temporary Emergency Hunting Region, since wild boars are known to damage crops, pose a threat to road safety and spread diseases such as tuberculosis and African swine fever.

 

The new findings will help guide future strategies to control wild boar populations, especially in agricultural and semi-urban areas where the animals come into contact with humans most often.

 

The methodology also offers a template for monitoring other species such as Barbary sheep and mountain goats.

 

 

Image: CARM