This Is How a Furious Wild Boar Trapped in a Cage Trap Reacts

Is this wild boar capable of breaking the bars of the cage in which it has become trapped? If the structure is not damaged, it is very unlikely that a wild boar could bite through solid steel bars several millimeters in diameter, although it can deform them slightly if they are made of low-quality steel or if the cage structure gives way.

What bite force does an adult wild boar develop?

Although, as we can see, it can indeed bend and deform them after a powerful blow and a strong bite. Especially considering that this type of cage is designed to withstand these kinds of attacks from trapped wild animals, under a high degree of stress and with violent responses. And we know that wild boars are specialists in pushing with their snout and shoulders, using the neck as a lever thanks to musculature that has evolved precisely to perform this movement, both when searching for food by rooting and when defending themselves and attacking other members of their species and predators.

The variable that best predicts bite force is not the weight of the wild boar, but the development of the superficial masseter muscle. This means that two wild boars of the same size may have very different bite capacities depending on their jaw musculature. What we do know is that, based on biomechanical studies of the skull, measurements in domestic pigs and anatomical estimates, it is possible to establish a fairly reliable range.

An adult wild boar can develop a bite force of between approximately 900 and 1,300 newtons (N) in medium-sized adult specimens. Large males, especially those weighing more than 100-120 kg, could reach 1,500 N or even slightly more in the rear molars. Expressed in kilogram-force, this translates as 900 N ≈ 92 kgf and 1,500 N ≈ 153 kgf. It should be kept in mind that the force is much greater in the molar area than in the tusks or incisors, due to the lever effect of the jaw.

Why does this species bite so hard?

The wild boar has several adaptations that favor great jaw power, including a very robust head, highly developed temporal and masseter muscles, a broad skull with large surfaces for muscle attachment, as well as a short jaw, which improves mechanical advantage. These characteristics allow it to break hard roots, tubers, nuts, small bones and even snap thin branches while foraging.

Direct measurements of the bite of the European wild boar

The most solid study to date is the one carried out by Brassard et al. (2023). Morphology of the jaw adductor muscles and bite force in wild boar (Sus scrofa) and published in Journal of Morphology.

The researchers worked with 10 European wild boars in captivity using a high-precision piezoelectric transducer and obtained the following results:

average weight of the animals: 76.9 ± 14.8 kg

average recorded bite force: 753.9 ± 133 N

highest value recorded: 982.3 N, corresponding to a 57 kg female.

These values were lower than expected because the measurement was taken on the premolars, in a unilateral bite and voluntarily, without stimulating the animal to reach its maximum physiological capacity. The authors themselves indicate that these figures do not represent the absolute limit of the jaw musculature, but rather the greatest force the animals developed spontaneously during the experiment.

There is another very interesting study carried out by Monteiro et al. (2021), called Quantifying bite force in coexisting tayassuids and feral suids. In this case, a device called BiTu was used, specifically designed to measure bites in captured wild animals. The results for feral wild boars (Sus scrofa) were:

• average: 3,370 N
• males: 3,690 N
• females: 3,131 N
• maximum recorded: 4,839 N.

The authors themselves point out that the position of the bite and the measurement method have an enormous influence on the force recorded.