The living wild boar or wild pig, Sus scrofa, is one of t,he
widest-ranging of all wild hoofed animals, being found in
woods and forests across most of Europe and Asia. It is also
the ancestor of the domestic pig, which is now one of the
world's most common larger mammals, distributed with
humans in almost every habitable corner of the globe. Along
with deer and similar cre~tures, wild boar feature in the
cave art of prehistoric humans, and their tusks were valued in decorative and ornamental items, such as necklaces and headdresses. The genus Sus first appeared in Asia during the Miocene, and several different species arrived in Europe at various times. These included the wild boar itself in the Late Miocene. It also spread to Africa, but disappeared' there in Neolithic (New
Stone Age) times