Expert study maps wild boar's unexpected cross-border tour

ČTK |

16 September 2013

Prague Daily Monitor      

       

 Prague, Sept 13 (CTK) - Czech scientists focusing on the wild boar population have mapped an unexpected cross-border trip one of the monitored boars made via Germany and Austria back to its home region in the Sumava mountains, south Bohemia, the Czech Agriculture University (CZU) has said.
Earlier this year, experts from the Prague-seated CZU equipped five wild boars with a plastic collar carrying a GPS navigation device that is expected to work for two to three years.
They want to map wild boars' behaviour and reaction to human activities, so that ways can be found to reduce the excessive wild boar population.
Wild boars usually do not stray from their home area of a few square kilometres. However, a male whom the researchers call Mirek, turned out to be a big traveller, the monitoring showed.
After receiving the GPS in March, Mirek stayed in his home Sumava region till July, but then he suddenly set out on a trip to Bavaria and further to Austria where he reached Neufelden, a town that is 58km away from Mirek's home as the crow flies.
"Mirek settled down near a local maize field and it seemed he will stay there forever, probably due to the big amount of feed that he never experienced in Sumava. However, after two weeks he set out on a journey again and, to our big surprise, he reappeared in his Sumava home area after four days," Milos Jezek, from the CZU team of experts, said.
He said the experts do not know what motivated Mirek's return.
The story of Mirek and his trip supervised by experts has even found its way to the Austrian media.
Unlike Mirek, the other wild boars with GPS did not abandon Sumava.
CZU experts similarly monitor the movement of other animal species, including stags, foxes and lynxes. People can see the reserach results on www.zver.agris.cz.

http://praguemonitor.com/2013/09/16/expert-study-maps-wild-boars-unexpected-cross-border-tour