Now it is no longer just bearded vultures, lynxes, red deer and other wild animals in Bavaria that carry state-of-the-art GPS transmitters on their backs or around their necks for research purposes. But also wild boars. “We already have twelve wild boars on the transmitter,” says the forest scientist and head of wildlife monitoring in the Bavarian Forest National Park, Marco Heurich, “another 30 will follow soon.” In contrast to birds, where the devices are hidden under their plumage, the wild boar’s transmitters are integrated into very eye-catching yellow collars. The reason: hunters should be able to recognize the wild boars that are taking part in the research project and spare them as much as possible. The movement data itself is transmitted directly to the researchers’ smartphones.
The project is scheduled to run for three years, and Heurich and his employees want to find out as much as possible about the range of action of wild boars. As often as the animals appear, little is known about the size of their home areas, the distances they cover and any seasonal migrations. “And above all, as far as the low mountain range is concerned, like here in the Bavarian Forest,” says Heurich. The first findings are already available. Then the Bavarian Forest wild boars come far around in the region around the National Park and its counterpart on the Czech side, the Sumava National Park. In one case, a group even hiked 18 kilometers into the Sumava in one day.
The Bavarian Forest is actually not an ideal habitat for wild boars. This is due to the still comparatively hard and snowy winters. The animals find it difficult to make progress in the deep snow and also find it difficult to find food. In the past, wild boars were rather rare in the Bavarian Forest. “For a long time they were even considered to be exterminated,” says Heurich. “But since one was shot again in 1987, the stocks have risen continuously.” In good years, when the beech trees carry masses of beechnuts, the population can double or even triple in one fell swoop, according to Heurich. The hunting route in the national park then rises to up to 300 pieces.
From the research project, which is financed by the Ministry of the Environment and supported by the State Office for Health and Food Safety, Heurich also expects important findings for the fight against African swine fever (ASF). The animal disease, which was introduced to Georgia from Africa in 2007 and has since spread rapidly westwards, is usually fatal for wild and domestic pigs. It is harmless to humans and other animal species. It is transmitted from pig to pig or through contaminated animal products such as food waste. One of the main means of combating ASF outbreaks is to include exclusion zones. To calculate them, one has to know the range of action of wild boars as well as possible.
The yellow collars with the transmitters and batteries are harmless to the wild boars. The researchers adapt them to the animals so precisely that they sit firmly enough, but at the same time leave them enough leeway and do not squeeze them. However, should an emergency happen, you can remove a collar from the respective wild boar at any time via radio signal. After half a year, it also automatically falls off the respective animal.