Key Points
- Wolves are the largest canines, but they rely on hunting in packs to take down large prey in most cases.
- Wild boars are big, thickly built, aggressive creatures that can stand their ground against predators.
- Wild boars are bigger than most wolves, and a single boar would probably drive off a single wolf. However, a pack of wolves could take down a lone wild boar.
Wolves are large carnivores that often hunt in packs to bring down their prey. They hunt many large, hooved animals, including wild boars. While it’s tempting to think of a wild boar as a helpless piglet in the face of a snarling wolf, that is not the case. In fact, a wild boar has several advantages over a wolf in a one-on-one fight. Find out which animal wins a battle between a wolf vs wild boar and how it would all play out in the wild.
Specifically, this fight is going to compare a gray wolf and the wild boar, Sus scrofa.
Wolf vs. Wild Boar Comparison
| Wolf | Wild Boar | |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 2.6 to 2.8 feet | 1.8 to 3.2 Feet |
| Weight | 51 to 180 pounds | 175 to 386 pounds |
| How They Attack | Cursorial predators that chase prey in groups, wear them down, and then bite them in the neck until it dies. | Often charge to topple or trample others, and then use teeth and tusks to maul them. |
| Top Speed | 30 to 40 mph | 25 to 35 mph |
| Diet | Carnivorous animals that eat rabbits, elk, deer, beaves, and more. | Omnivorous animals that eat plants, insects, and many small animals. |
Overview: Wolf
©David Dirga/Shutterstock.com
Gray wolves are very large, social mammals that hunt together to ensure their success and safety. They are also the largest species of wolves. However, since they rely on their social hunting skills, a fight against a lone wild boar could be troublesome given the potential size disparity.
Still, a wolf has a mix of speed, cunning, and raw power to help it attack prey, and it would bring all that to bear against the wild boar.
Size and Appearance
Wolves are large canines. They are quadrupedal animals with long powerful legs, tails, dense fur, and powerful jaws. Gray wolves typically weigh between 51 and 180 pounds. Moreover, they can stand about 2.8 feet tall at the shoulder. They use their powerful bodies to endure long, fast runs during which they hunt their prey.
How Wolves Attack
Wolves primarily attack by biting their prey. Their jaws can exert between 400 and 1,000 PSI, enough force to rip into their prey and crush bones. Wolves often engage in cursorial predation, a process where they chase down their prey, wear it out with repeated bites, and finally finish the animal by biting it around the neck.
That form of attack could be effective against a boar in a one-on-one fight. Yet, the success of that method would rely on the wolf using its high speed to ensure it can deal damage without being harmed.
Overview: Wild Boar
©iStock.com/sus scrofa
Wild boars are not the farm pigs that most people are accustomed to seeing. They are dangerous animals that spread throughout Europe and Asia, wreaking havoc on crops and even attacking people. These feral swine have even made their way to the United States. These animals and their hybrid offspring are undergoing a population explosion that endangers people, animals, and crops alike!
Size and Appearance
Wild boars vary in size and appearance. Typically, they are large swine with coarse, sometimes sparse hair. They can weigh between 175 and 386 pounds or more, and they often grow between 1.8 and 3.2 feet tall at the shoulder.
They’re thickly built quadrupedal animals that spend a lot of their time foraging for food. They often consume plants, seeds, and tubers, but they can eat many other kinds of food, including small animals.
These creatures are fast and strong, capable of running between 35 and 35 mph for short distances. Males have long tusks that can grow several inches long, and females also have smaller tusks.
How Wild Boars Attack
Boars do not often attack unless they are threatened, or something is threatening their offspring. In that case, boars often start an attack with a charge. They will slam into the other animal with as much speed and power as possible to attempt to topple them over.
Females will deliver powerful bites and use repeated charges to harm their foes. Males will use their long tusks to slash and stab their enemies, mauling them.
Wolf vs. Wild Boar: Who Would Win?
©iStock.com/JMrocek
A single wild boar would win a fight against a single wolf. To be fair, much of the fight depends on the size of the animals involved. Taking the maximum sizes of each animal, the wild boar has a moderate size advantage. The animal’s size is not the only factor that matters, but it is very important in this fight.
Boars have tough skin and thick bodies. That type of body could be very hard for a wolf to successfully attack. That’s especially true when one considers that wolves often go for their prey’s necks. In this case, they would be fighting a larger, heavier animal. That’s nothing new for wolves, though. They often take down deer and elk.
The biggest difference is that boars are well-suited for attacking enemies. A male boar could bury its tusks in the wolf’s neck or stomach when the wolf goes in to bite its neck.
A likely outcome of the two largest versions of these animals would be the boar standing its ground and engaging the wolf, driving it off rather than killing it.
Wolves are patient, though, so a wolf could potentially wear down a lone boar and kill it using speed, power, and several strong, well-placed bites. Given the parameters of this one-on-one fight, the wolf would probably give up if it can’t secure a decisive victory or if it takes a serious wound. That outcome seems more likely than a wolf managing to directly kill a wild boar.