On the lives of Boar
Charlottenburg, Berlin
September 2020
J M L
Let’s start with death. What is happening to wild boar now?
D E
In 1960, maybe fifty thousand boar were shot every year in East and West Germany combined. Now, hunters shoot six-hundred thousand to one million boar or they die in traffic accidents. So, it’s a big difference.
J M L
A lot more deaths. We have seen that. It is the same in France, where six-hundred thousand boar were also shot.
D E
Boars are increasing in numbers across Europe. The main reason is the availability of food. More than half of Germany is given over to farming, and the modern farm is a paradise for boar. Then there is also climate change: winters are getting warmer and warmer. Usually, ten to twenty per cent of young boar die during the coldest months, and that number has dropped. So, the growth of the boar population increases. An additional point concerns veterinary care. The arrival of the African swine fever is new, and it is a real problem because we have no cure for the boar, so we have to shoot them. There are currently discussions about getting rid of the boar, but this is not possible because the animal is already a part of Berlin. And Berlin is an excellent place to observe how boar live: they can move between the forest, farmland and city landscape. Berlin is big, more than eight hundred square kilometres, 42 percent of it is greenery — gardens, parks, farmland, forests — it is the perfect boar habitat.
J M L
How many boar do you think are in the city?
D E
We are not sure. We shoot one to two thousand every year during hunting season, but we don’t know the exact number of animals. Some years we have more, some years less. We understand that a boar prefers to stay put in its own territory. Some live only in the forest, but most move in and out of the woods. And there is a seasonal cycle. The hunting season begins in October. As a result of the Second World War, Berlin’s forests are not a reservoir for wood but a place for people. The woods are recreational places. In Berlin, there are always people in the woods day and night, making hunting difficult.
J M L
Are you allowed to shoot with guns, or only with a bow and arrow?
D E
Only with a pistol. The difficulty is that most boar come out at night and go to the gardens to search for foods that are not available in the forest. Boar can smell food from two or three kilometres away and they can also smell the soil in the gardens when the owners water them.
F D
Then they dig in the ground with their snouts?
D E
Yes. And it’s effortless for them to come to the suburbs of Berlin. Some also make it to the city centre, but not many.
F D
Do you think it’s because of the smell and also because it is prehistoric territory? Do they feel that Berlin was once their territory before it was a city? That’s perhaps a theoretical question.
D E
It’s a good question. We know that most wild boar don’t leave Berlin and since the 1980s, they have been in the western, northern and eastern parts of the city. This was confirmed by a doctor who got DNA tests and found out that there are three generations of boar.
F D and J M L
Oh, wow!
J M L
Are the male and female boar separated in these Berlin sounders?
D E
Yes, the male boar, when immature, lives in small groups. When they mature, they live alone and have their own larger territories, while the females live in bigger groups of six to sixteen boar.
J M L
How many kilometres does the male boar travel in Berlin?
D E
Around three kilometres inside the forests; outside of the woods, perhaps ten or fifteen kilometres. But in Berlin, where they have enough food, they do not always have to go so far.
J M L
We would like to find a sounder of boar in Berlin at some future point and better understand its behaviour. It would be great if we could map this group. The purpose of our project is a bit crazy, but we think it’s beautiful: we are trying to imagine how a future AI will perceive a biological life form. When we started thinking about this project, we thought about animals and the question of territory. We especially thought about how boar exist, how they dig, how they move and how sensitive they are. We have spent a lot of time with boar, hunters and scientists.
Since the Interspecies movement is developing in Berlin among other cities, we wanted to bring the work here and make it local.
D E
The best time to follow boar is in the spring, especially at the beginning of April, when the females are giving birth outside of the forests in safer and less populated territories.
J M L
What will happen to the boar in Berlin in the next few years? As you say, in Germany, due to African swine fever, many more boar are getting shot. Does this mean that the Berlin authorities will kill a majority of the boar in the city?
D E
No. It is not possible to wipe out wildlife. Even though I am not a hunter, I understand hunters well. They are friends of nature, and also to the boar you know? But the truth is: the farmers and the economy don’t want African swine fever and they have traced the problem to the boar.
J M L
That is interesting.
D E
It is, mainly because they were already aware of the problem for a long time. The wild boar population has fluctuated in the last centuries, with numbers collapsing by 80 per cent or more at times. Today’s population is probably as high as it was in 1988.
F D
In the Czech Republic, we have a related problem: synanthropy. Since there has been the industrial farming of rapeseed for oil, our boar have changed and become daytime animals. Nowadays, they can hide inside the rapeseed and eat whatever they want.
D E
Exactly. In Berlin, boar are now both day and night animals. It depends on the group. Females prefer to move around at dusk because it’s the safest time.
F D
Do you think there is some connection between boar and sunrise?
D E
No, not really. Some prefer dawn, others don’t. The greatest moment for me was when I was living with a boar family. At first, there was a considerable distance between us. Then, after two or three days, they began to accept me — even though I did not give them food. Especially after five days, it started getting interesting: the young offspring did not recognise me. But after seven to ten days, they came to me and I showed them how to dig in the soil.
J M L
Oh!
D E
Since boar have a great sense of smell, I usually walk twenty metres or so behind them. When I find a place to sit, I often see the female boar feeding their young. In their first five to six weeks, the offspring only take their cue from their mother. When the mother starts digging the soil, they will do the same without knowing why they just follow. If a family does another thing, they follow as well. If I break a branch, they will try to do it, too. But unfortunately, they don’t know how. Very intelligent.
F D
Super intelligent. For these reasons, we are interested in AI and boar.
D E
I understand you! Dr Milena Stillfried at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research tracked some wild boar and one of the mysteries she found is that once every year, in the summertime, the boar leaves Berlin for approximately three weeks. They go to the same place for a short time and no one can explain why.
J M L
There’s perhaps an important question here: do you think Berlin is twenty, thirty years ahead of Düsseldorf or Munich or Prague? Is this a future for the cities where cohabiting — humans living together with animals in a more humane way — would be possible?
D E
Yes, Berlin is ahead in this regard. We need animals in our cities, people prefer that, and so do the animals.
J M L
Federico, we have seen it with the boar. They are very frightened of humans because they are hunted, hunted and hunted.
D E
Yes, but you can learn about boar. They will directly show how they feel and what they think about you. If they come to you, run a few metres away, they are not coming towards you to fight, they only want to create some tension. Of course, if you don’t go away, they will become angry: they will show you they are big.