The sightings of the nests in the area surrounding the Fu-Shan Research Station in Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan, marked the first sightings by TFRI officials since the TFRI closed the research station in 1991 to allow the environment to regenerate, the officials said.

The sightings indicate that ecological conditions at the Fu-Shan Research Station — the jewel in the crown of Taiwan’s forestry research — have improved significantly over the past 10 years, the officials said.

Formosan wild boars, an subspecies endemic to Taiwan, have a large head, small ears, a long snout flanked by a white stripe along each side, and two sharp narrow tusks growing from their lower jaw.

Formosan wild boars are omnivorous and migratory, moving to lower elevations when winter comes. They use their narrow snouts and tusks to dig up the earth in search of food, and in the process, often destroy cropland — so that farmers consider them a serious pest. As they do not have sweat glands, the pigs will often roll in muddy wetlands near mountain streams to keep cool and get rid of parasites.

They usually inhabit mountainous regions at elevations below 3000m and higher than 700m, including hills, grasslands, croplands and woodlands.

Females give birth to their young in a nest constructed of thin branches, leaves and wire grass, similar materials used by Taiwan’s early inhabitants to build houses and shelters.

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