Quixote's Wild Boar

The wild boar is an ancestor of the domestic pig which can be found wild throughout almost all of the Spanish Peninsula, except the driest parts of the south-east. This is because the pigs lack sweat glands and must cool themselves by wallowing in muddy ditches. Boars are crepuscular, that is they forage from dusk until dawn and they are the only hoofed animals known to dig burrows. They have an important ecological role in helping to clear the forest floor, especially since the decline of the rabbit in Spain. In any Iberian forest you'll see large patches of bare earth scuffed up by boars as they search for worms and grubs, which create seedbeds beneficial to trees and shrubs.

In 2006, there were some 50,000 wild boar in Catalonia alone, even though approximately 24,000 are hunted and killed each year. Hog roasts are extremely popular although generally Spanish butchers sell cultivated boar not the wild variety. The Spanish obsession with boar has been well documented, for instance, by Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote where he describes “a huge boar, closely pressed by the hounds and followed by the huntsmen, making towards them, grinding his teeth and tusks, and scattering foam from his mouth. As soon as he saw him Don Quixote, bracing his shield on his arm, and drawing his sword, advanced to meet him; the duke with boar-spear did the same...” The reverence for the animal is akin to the Spanish love of the bull – that is to say, they enjoy the hunt, the kill and the taste, and have woven all sorts of stories and phrases around the creature.

The male boar is big, muscular and has three-inch canine teeth that grow continuously, so it makes a mean adversary. Boar is served on many of the finest tables in Spain, in recipes such as Jabali con higos en Rioja (Boar with figs and white wine) and has long been a part of the Spanish and French diet, in the way that pork is popular in the UK. It is difficult to imagine much enthusiasm for hunting domestic pigs however. Somehow, the fact that this powerful and self-sufficient creature has been allowed to survive in the wild in Spain is linked to its popularity, with boar hunts still conveying medieval images of proud lords on horseback.

Only the Iberian wolf forms any kind of natural predator to these immense creatures, which have been known to grow up to 200kg in weight, about 150cm long. Vultures will feast on the remains of boar carcasses that mountain wolves discard, so when you next spot boar on the menu, spare a thought for the link between preserving wolves, raptors and boar in Spain's wilder reaches.