20th Feb 2018 by Thiemo

Wild pigs and peccaries play an important role in many ecosystems as keystone species and many of them are easy to watch such as the Common warthogs in Africa and the Eurasian wild boars in Europe. Nevertheless, there are still gaps in the knowledge about wild pigs and peccaries regarding their taxonomy. There are only few books, which deal exclusively with wild pigs and peccaries and interested people have to consult general books about taxonomy to get information about these animals. Therefore, the book “Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries” edited by Mario Melletti and Erik Meijaard deserves attention as one hundred experts from 25 countries have worked on this book to present and review the latest information about the evolution, taxonomy, ecology, behavior, conservation and management of wild pigs and peccaries. After a general introduction by the editors the book is separated into three parts. The first part comprising five chapters deals with evolution, taxonomy and domestication, the second and biggest part has 20 chapters, in which each chapter is about one of the at least 21 pig and peccary species. Finally, the third part deals with conservation and management including thirteen chapters. The first chapter in the first part of the book describes the latest scientific state of knowledge about the evolutionary relationships and taxonomy of the two families Suidae and Tayassuidae. Other chapters of this part of the book deal with postcranial skeletal morphology in living and extant fossil African Suidae, diet and ecology of extant and fossil wild pigs, a history of pig domestication and pig human relations. All twenty species accounts in the second part of the book comprise a sketch of each species, descriptions of the taxonomy, subspecies and distribution, main characteristics, habitat, movements and home range, activity patterns, feeding ecology, reproduction and growth, behavior, parasites and diseases, status in the wild (including threats to the survival and conservation measures) and status in captivity, followed by detailed lists references. Furthermore, there are distribution maps for each species and also for each species at least one photo in black and white. Each species account is the most up-to-date compilation of the knowledge about it. In the third part of the book the authors discuss the conservation and management of wild pigs and peccaries. Most of these chapters present novel case studies and scientific reviews. Additionally to all the black and white photos there are 32 special pages showing coloured photos of some of the black and white photos and the distribution maps for all species. Overall, this book is the best and most up to date compilation of the ecology, conservation and management of wild pigs and peccaries. It will be THE reference for the species. Therefore, the book will hopefully get a broad distribution in the conservation community and should get a place in (scientific) libraries. Also people generally interested in the biology of wild pigs and peccaries will find a cornucopia of new and interesting information about these species. Thiemo Braasch, Chief Editor Suiform Soundings, IUCN/SSC Wild Pig Specialist Group

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