Pigs of Sardinia and Corsica: a biometrical re-evaluation of their status and history

In this paper the status and history of the Corsican and Sardinian pigs is reviewed, and suggestions regarding the dynamics of their introduction to the two islands and the characteristics of their exploitation by past human societies are put forward. The work is based on biometry and relies on a review of published evidence and a newly created dataset of measurements from nuragic Sardinia, medieval Corsica and modern specimens. It is suggested that the accredited hypothesis of the origin of Corso-Sardinian wild boars from the feralisation of prehistoric domestic pigs remains the most likely in light of the available evidence, but that no relation exists between these pigs and those of the Indonesian subspecies. The two islands may have had different colonisation histories, but in both, pigs decreased substantially in size in early prehistory, though this size decrease continued at a slow pace until modern times. The end product comprises populations of wild boars and domestic pigs that are among the smallest to be found anywhere in the world and which therefore play a unique role in the economy, society and environment of the two islands.