A hog hole at the study site with more recent secondary digging for
something's occupancy.
Two images above show hog diggings near control
#151.
The image below shows part of control #151, perhaps broken off by
passing porcine traffic?
The hogs appear to be digging for
something other than peyote.
Do not confuse this digging with the human holes encountered in Mexico. The two
are usually easy to tell apart.
Hogs dig with hooves from under the scrub brush and
target something typically in or under the nurse plant roots whereas
humans trample the nurse plants and use tools for digging out the
peyotes.
We have set up a game camera but presently lack a
photograph of the hogs.
However, this hog scat
that we encountered on 8 March 2010 provided even more tangible
physical evidence of their presence than did their holes.
Two hogs were glimpsed on the
run not far from the study site on our July 2010 visit.
To learn more about feral hogs visit the Texas Parks
& Wildlife Department website and download "The
Feral Hog in Texas" PDF.
We have not yet captured images of
the hogs we've seen but this http://www.youtube.com video depicts the
problem nicely.
Did a javelina's hoof do this damage to var. echinata farther
west?