Hundreds more wild boar to spread across Scotland, as numbers in west Highlands and Dumfries and Galloway grow
New research has projected the wild boar population in Scotland in 50 years’ time.
Hundreds more wild boar will spread across Scotland over the next 50 years, a new report has suggested.
The report, published in the journal Science Direct, showed numbers of the animals were expected to rise by more than 60 per cent.
About 1,472 wild boar are projected to be roaming in Scotland today, with populations to be found in the west Highlands and Dumfries and Galloway.
The report, produced by the James Hutton environmental research institute, King's College London and the Zoological Society of London, forecast those numbers would rise to about 2,400 by 2075.
The modelling suggests wild boar will explore an extra 50 sq miles each year.
The animals re-established themselves in the 1970s after once being extinct in the UK.
Boar behaviour, land cover and environmental variability were all considered to produce the modelling.
PhD student Connor Lovell, who carried out the modelling, told the BBC: "With wild boar back in Scotland, this model is a key step to understand where boar could go, how big their populations could be, and where they could impact ecosystems and local communities."
Sounders of the animals can also be found in Perthshire, north Stirling, Moray and Aberdeenshire.
The study is believed to be the first detailed analysis of wild boar dynamics across Scotland.
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