title: "Quercus kelloggii" content: mountain quail, Steller's jay, and woodpeckers. Acorns constitute an average of 50% of the fall and winter diets of western gray squirrel and black-tailed deer during good mast years. Fawn survival rates increase or decrease with the size of the acorn crop. It is a preferred foraging substrate for many birds. All of 68 bird species observed in oak woodlands of the Tehachapi Mountains of California used California black oak for part of their foraging activities. Acorn woodpecker, Bullock's oriole, and Nashville warbler show strong preference for California black oak. The parasitic plant Pacific mistletoe ("Phoradendron villosum"), which commonly grows


title: "Quercus kelloggii" content: on this oak, produces berries which attract birds as well. Many animals cache the acorns, and acorns that have been stored in the ground or otherwise buried are more likely to sprout than those that remain on the surface. The tree is adapted to wildfire. It is protected from smaller fires by its thick bark. If it is top-killed and burned away in a larger fire, it easily resprouts and has a good supply of nutrients and water stored in its root system. Acorns sprout into seedlings after fire and sites that have been cleared of canopy and leaf litter


title: "Quercus kelloggii" content: in fires are ideal for seedling success. This oak is vulnerable to sudden oak death. The pollen is released in spring and is a severe allergen. California Native Americans preferred California black oak acorns over those of other species for making acorn meal. This acorn was a staple food for many Native American groups. Native Americans recognized the importance of fire to this oak, and purposely lit fires in oak woodlands to promote its health and ensure their food source. The wood is used for making furniture, pallets, and construction timber. It is used as an ornamental tree. California black


title: "Quercus kelloggii" content: oak comprises a total volume of 29% of California's hardwood timber resources, and is the major hardwood sawn into lumber there. The total estimated area of species occurrence is 361,800 ha (3,618 km² or 894,000 acres); 239,200 ha (2,392 km² or 591,000 acres) of timberland and 122,600 ha (1,226 km² or 303,000 acres) of woodland. Of this land 60% is privately owned, 31% is in National Forests, and 9% is on other public lands. It has greatly decreased from its historic abundance. This is due to a number of factors, including drought, disease, animal foraging, logging practices, fire suppression, and


title: "Quercus kelloggii" content: a variety of other human impacts. Cutting green trees for fuelwood has contributed to the decline of this species, and illegal harvesting of green trees from public lands is a continuing problem. It was long considered by foresters and government agencies to be a weed tree. In its earlier years, its only use was to feed the boilers of donkey engines bringing in the valuable pine and fir logs. There was a period in the mid 1960s when U.S. Forest Service policy in California's National Forests was systematic extermination of California black oak by girdling the trees. The objective was


title: "Quercus kelloggii" content: to make room for more coniferous growth. In the rush to utilize the pines, firs and redwoods, the dense hardwoods were looked on with contempt. Like a few other visionaries in the 1960s, Guy Hall thought the California black oak presented a beautiful challenge that deserved better than eradication. In 1965 Hall convinced federal agencies to cease their extermination policies. Plantations of California black oak have been successfully established in clearcuts from acorn plantings. Thinning such stands promotes stand productivity and wood quality, and is recommended when trees are from tall or when stand density (basal area) exceeds 29 m²/ha


title: "Quercus kelloggii" content: (125 ft²/acre). This tree has also been managed for hardwood production by maintaining scattered pure stands within coniferous forests. Stands of this species will often establish on poorer sites, where conifer seedling establishment has not been successful. "Quercus kelloggii" is cultivated in the specialty horticulture trade as an ornamental tree for native plant, drought tolerant water conserving, and habitat gardens, and various types of municipal, commercial, and agency sustainable landscape and restoration projects. Quercus kelloggii Quercus kelloggii, the California black oak, also known as simply black oak, or Kellogg oak, is an oak in the red oak section ("Quercus" sect.


title: "Charles de Gaulle" content: operation for prostate cancer, and concerns over security. He had visited Mexico the previous year and spoke, in Spanish, to the Mexican people on the eve of their celebrations of their independence at the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City. During his new 26-day visit, he was again keen to gain both cultural and economic influence. He spoke constantly of his resentment of US influence in Latin America—"that some states should establish a power of political or economic direction outside their own borders". Yet France could provide no investment or aid to match that from Washington. In the Bretton Woods system


title: Onion content: Onion The onion ("Allium cepa" L., from Latin "cepa" "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus "Allium". Its close relatives include the garlic, leek, chive, and Chinese onion. This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion ("Allium fistulosum"), the tree onion ("A." ×"proliferum"), and the Canada onion ("Allium canadense"). The name "wild onion" is applied to a number of "Allium" species, but "A. cepa" is exclusively known from cultivation. Its


title: Onion content: ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, but is usually treated as an annual and harvested in its first growing season. The onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. The bulbs are composed of shortened, compressed, underground stems surrounded by fleshy modified scale (leaves) that envelop a central bud at the tip of the stem. In the autumn (or


title: Onion content: in spring, in the case of overwintering onions), the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage. The crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm, and various fungi cause rotting. Some varieties of "A. cepa", such as shallots and potato onions, produce multiple bulbs. Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are usually served cooked, as a vegetable or part of


title: Onion content: a prepared savoury dish, but can also be eaten raw or used to make pickles or chutneys. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which irritate the eyes. The onion plant ("Allium cepa"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus "Allium." It was first officially described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work "Species Plantarum". A number of synonyms have appeared in its taxonomic history: "A. cepa" is known exclusively from cultivation, but related wild species occur in Central Asia. The most closely related species include


title: Onion content: "A. vavilovii" (Popov & Vved.) and "A. asarense" (R.M. Fritsch & Matin) from Iran. However, Zohary and Hopf state that "there are doubts whether the "A. vavilovii" collections tested represent genuine wild material or only feral derivatives of the crop." The vast majority of cultivars of "A. cepa" belong to the "common onion group" ("A. cepa" var. "cepa") and are usually referred to simply as "onions". The Aggregatum group of cultivars ("A. cepa" var. "aggregatum") includes both shallots and potato onions. The genus "Allium" also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food,


title: Onion content: such as the Japanese bunching onion ("A. fistulosum"), Egyptian onion ("A." ×"proliferum"), and Canada onion ("A. canadense"). "Cepa" is commonly accepted as Latin for "onion" and has an affinity with Ancient Greek: κάπια ("kápia"), Albanian: "qepë", Aromanian: "tseapã", Catalan: "ceba", English: chive, Occitan: "ceba", Spanish: "cebolla", Old French: "cive", and Romanian: "ceapă". The onion plant has been grown and selectively bred in cultivation for at least 7,000 years. It is a biennial plant, but is usually grown as an annual. Modern varieties typically grow to a height of . The leaves are yellowish- to bluish green and grow alternately in


title: Onion content: a flattened, fan-shaped swathe. They are fleshy, hollow, and cylindrical, with one flattened side. They are at their broadest about a quarter of the way up, beyond which they taper towards a blunt tip. The base of each leaf is a flattened, usually white sheath that grows out of a basal disc. From the underside of the disc, a bundle of fibrous roots extends for a short way into the soil. As the onion matures, food reserves begin to accumulate in the leaf bases and the bulb of the onion swells. In the autumn, the leaves die back and the


title: Onion content: outer scales of the bulb become dry and brittle, so the crop is then normally harvested. If left in the soil over winter, the growing point in the middle of the bulb begins to develop in the spring. New leaves appear and a long, stout, hollow stem expands, topped by a bract protecting a developing inflorescence. The inflorescence takes the form of a globular umbel of white flowers with parts in sixes. The seeds are glossy black and triangular in cross section. The average pH of an onion is around 5.5 Because the wild onion is extinct and ancient records


title: Onion content: of using onions span western and eastern Asia, the geographic origin of the onion is uncertain, with likely domestication worldwide. Food uses of onions date back thousands of years in China, Egypt and Persia. Traces of onions recovered from Bronze Age settlements in China suggest that onions were used as far back as 5000 BCE, not only for their flavour, but the bulb's durability in storage and transport. Ancient Egyptians revered the onion bulb, viewing its spherical shape and concentric rings as symbols of eternal life. Onions were used in Egyptian burials, as evidenced by onion traces found in the


title: Onion content: eye sockets of Ramesses IV. Pliny the Elder of the first century CE wrote about the use of onions and cabbage in Pompeii. He documented Roman beliefs about the onion's ability to improve ocular ailments, aid in sleep, and heal everything from oral sores and toothaches to dog bites, lumbago, and even dysentery. Archaeologists unearthing Pompeii long after its 79 CE volcanic burial have found gardens resembling those in Pliny's detailed narratives. According to texts collected in the fifth/sixth century CE under the authorial aegis of "Apicius" (said to have been a gourmet), onions were used in many Roman recipes.


title: Onion content: In the Age of Discovery, onions were taken to North America by the first European settlers, only to discover the plant readily available, and in wide use in Native American gastronomy. According to diaries kept by certain of the first English colonists, the bulb onion was one of the first crops planted by the Pilgrim fathers. Common onions are normally available in three colour varieties. Yellow or brown onions (called red in some European countries), are full-flavoured and are the onions of choice for everyday use, with many cultivars bred specifically to demonstrate this sweetness (Vidalia, Walla Walla, Cévennes, "Bermuda,"


title: Onion content: &c.). Yellow onions turn a rich, dark brown when caramelised and give French onion soup its sweet flavour. The red onion (called purple in some European countries) is a good choice for fresh use when its colour livens up the dish; it is also used in grilling. White onions are the traditional onions used in classic Mexican cuisine; they have a golden colour when cooked and a particularly sweet flavour when sautéed. While the large, mature onion bulb is most often eaten, onions can be eaten at immature stages. Young plants may be harvested before bulbing occurs and used whole


title: Onion content: as spring onions or scallions. When an onion is harvested after bulbing has begun, but the onion is not yet mature, the plants are sometimes referred to as "summer" onions. Additionally, onions may be bred and grown to mature at smaller sizes. Depending on the mature size and the purpose for which the onion is used, these may be referred to as pearl, boiler, or pickler onions, but differ from true pearl onions which are a different species. Pearl and boiler onions may be cooked as a vegetable rather than as an ingredient and pickler onions are often preserved in


title: Onion content: vinegar as a long-lasting relish. Onions are available in fresh, frozen, canned, caramelised, pickled, and chopped forms. The dehydrated product is available as kibbled, sliced, ring, minced, chopped, granulated, and powder forms. Onion powder is a seasoning widely used when the fresh ingredient is not available. It is made from finely ground, dehydrated onions, mainly the pungent varieties of bulb onions, and has a strong odour. Being dehydrated, it has a long shelf life and is available in several varieties: yellow, red, and white. Onions are commonly chopped and used as an ingredient in various hearty warm dishes, and may


title: Onion content: also be used as a main ingredient in their own right, for example in French onion soup, creamed onions, and onion chutney. They are versatile and can be baked, boiled, braised, grilled, fried, roasted, sautéed, or eaten raw in salads. Their layered nature makes them easy to hollow out once cooked, facilitating stuffing them, as in Turkish sogan-dolma. Onions pickled in vinegar are eaten as a snack around the world, and as a side serving in pubs and fish and chip shops throughout the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. They are part of a traditional British pub's ploughman's lunch, usually


title: Onion content: served with crusty bread, English cheese, and ale. Similar to garlic, onions can show an additional colour – pink-red – after cutting, an effect caused by reactions of amino acids with sulfur compounds. Onions have particularly large cells that are readily observed under low magnification. Forming a single layer of cells, the bulb epidermis is easy to separate for educational, experimental, and breeding purposes. Onions are, therefore, commonly employed in science education to teach the use of a microscope for observing cell structure. Onions are toxic to dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and many other animals. Most onion cultivars are about


title: Onion content: 89% water, 9% carbohydrates (including 4% sugar and 2% dietary fibre), 1% protein, and negligible fat (table). Onions contain low amounts of essential nutrients and have an energy value of 166 kJ (40 Calories) in a 100 g (3.5 oz) amount. Onions contribute savoury flavour to dishes without contributing significant caloric content. Considerable differences exist between onion varieties in phytochemical content, particularly for polyphenols, with shallots having the highest level, six times the amount found in Vidalia onions. Yellow onions have the highest total flavonoid content, an amount 11 times higher than in white onions. Red onions have considerable content


title: Onion content: of anthocyanin pigments, with at least 25 different compounds identified representing 10% of total flavonoid content. Onion polyphenols are under basic research to determine their possible biological properties in humans. Some people suffer from allergic reactions after handling onions. Symptoms can include contact dermatitis, intense itching, rhinoconjunctivitis, blurred vision, bronchial asthma, sweating, and anaphylaxis. Allergic reactions may not occur when eating cooked onions, possibly due to the denaturing of the proteins from cooking. Freshly cut onions often cause a stinging sensation in the eyes of people nearby, and often uncontrollable tears. This is caused by the release of a volatile


title: Onion content: gas, "syn"-propanethial-S-oxide, which stimulates nerves in the eye. This gas is produced by a chain of reactions which serve as a defence mechanism: chopping an onion causes damage to cells which releases enzymes called alliinases. These break down amino acid sulfoxides and generate sulfenic acids. A specific sulfenic acid, 1-propenesulfenic acid, is rapidly acted on by a second enzyme, the lacrimatory factor synthase, producing the "syn"-propanethial-S-oxide. This gas diffuses through the air and soon reaches the eyes, where it activates sensory neurons. Lacrimal glands produce tears to dilute and flush out the irritant. Eye irritation can be avoided by cutting


title: Onion content: onions under running water or submerged in a basin of water. Leaving the root end intact also reduces irritation as the onion base has a higher concentration of sulphur compounds than the rest of the bulb. Refrigerating the onions before use reduces the enzyme reaction rate and using a fan can blow the gas away from the eyes. The more often one chops onions, the less one experiences eye irritation. The amount of sulfenic acids and lacrimal factor released and the irritation effect differs among "Allium" species. In 2008, the New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research created "no


title: Onion content: tears" onions by genetic modification to prevent the synthesis of lachrymatory factor synthase in onions. One study suggests that consumers prefer the flavor of onions with lower LFS content. However, since the LFS-silencing process involves reducing sulfur ingestion by the plant, it has also been suggested that LFS− onions are inferior in flavor. A method for efficiently differentiating LFS− and LFS+ onions has been developed based on mass spectrometry, with potential application in high-volume production; gas chromatography is also used to measure lachrymatory factor in onions. In early 2018, Bayer released the first crop yield of commercially-available LFS-silenced onions under


title: Onion content: the name "Sunions." They were the product of 30 years of cross-breeding; genetic modification was not employed. Guinea hen weed and honey garlic contain a similar lachrymatory factor. Synthetic onion lachrymatory factor has been used in a study related to tear production, and has been proposed as a nonlethal deterrent against thieves and intruders. Onions are best cultivated in fertile soils that are well-drained. Sandy loams are good as they are low in sulphur, while clayey soils usually have a high sulphur content and produce pungent bulbs. Onions require a high level of nutrients in the soil. Phosphorus is often


title: Onion content: present in sufficient quantities, but may be applied before planting because of its low level of availability in cold soils. Nitrogen and potash can be applied at regular intervals during the growing season, the last application of nitrogen being at least four weeks before harvesting. Bulbing onions are day-length sensitive; their bulbs begin growing only after the number of daylight hours has surpassed some minimal quantity. Most traditional European onions are referred to as "long-day" onions, producing bulbs only after 14 hours or more of daylight occurs. Southern European and North African varieties are often known as "intermediate-day" types, requiring


title: Onion content: only 12–13 hours of daylight to stimulate bulb formation. Finally, "short-day" onions, which have been developed in more recent times, are planted in mild-winter areas in the autumn and form bulbs in the early spring, and require only 11–12 hours of daylight to stimulate bulb formation. Onions are a cool-weather crop and can be grown in USDA zones 3 to 9. Hot temperatures or other stressful conditions cause them to "bolt", meaning that a flower stem begins to grow. Onions may be grown from seed or from sets. Onion seeds are short-lived and fresh seeds germinate better. The seeds are


title: Onion content: sown thinly in shallow drills, thinning the plants in stages. In suitable climates, certain cultivars can be sown in late summer and autumn to overwinter in the ground and produce early crops the following year. Onion sets are produced by sowing seed thickly in early summer in poor soil and the small bulbs produced are harvested in the autumn. These bulbs are planted the following spring and grow into mature bulbs later in the year. Certain cultivars are used for this purpose and these may not have such good storage characteristics as those grown directly from seed. Routine care during


title: Onion content: the growing season involves keeping the rows free of competing weeds, especially when the plants are young. The plants are shallow-rooted and do not need a great deal of water when established. Bulbing usually takes place after 12 to 18 weeks. The bulbs can be gathered when needed to eat fresh, but if they will be kept in storage, they should be harvested after the leaves have died back naturally. In dry weather, they can be left on the surface of the soil for a few days to dry out properly, then they can be placed in nets, roped into


title: Onion content: strings, or laid in layers in shallow boxes. They should be stored in a well-ventilated, cool place such as a shed. Onions suffer from a number of plant disorders. The most serious for the home gardener are likely to be the onion fly, stem and bulb eelworm, white rot, and neck rot. Diseases affecting the foliage include rust and smut, downy mildew, and white tip disease. The bulbs may be affected by splitting, white rot, and neck rot. Shanking is a condition in which the central leaves turn yellow and the inner part of the bulb collapses into an unpleasant-smelling


title: Onion content: slime. Most of these disorders are best treated by removing and burning affected plants. The larvae of the onion leaf miner or leek moth ("Acrolepiopsis assectella") sometimes attack the foliage and may burrow down into the bulb. The onion fly ("Delia antiqua") lays eggs on the leaves and stems and on the ground close to onion, shallot, leek, and garlic plants. The fly is attracted to the crop by the smell of damaged tissue and is liable to occur after thinning. Plants grown from sets are less prone to attack. The larvae tunnel into the bulbs and the foliage wilts


title: Onion content: and turns yellow. The bulbs are disfigured and rot, especially in wet weather. Control measures may include crop rotation, the use of seed dressings, early sowing or planting, and the removal of infested plants. The onion eelworm ("Ditylenchus dipsaci"), a tiny parasitic soil-living nematode, causes swollen, distorted foliage. Young plants are killed and older ones produce soft bulbs. No cure is known and affected plants should be uprooted and burned. The site should not be used for growing onions again for several years and should also be avoided for growing carrots, parsnips, and beans, which are also susceptible to the


title: Onion content: eelworm. White rot of onions, leeks, and garlic is caused by the soil-borne fungus "Sclerotium cepivorum". As the roots rot, the foliage turns yellow and wilts. The bases of the bulbs are attacked and become covered by a fluffy white mass of mycelia, which later produces small, globular black structures called sclerotia. These resting structures remain in the soil to reinfect a future crop. No cure for this fungal disease exists, so affected plants should be removed and destroyed and the ground used for unrelated crops in subsequent years. Neck rot is a fungal disease affecting onions in storage. It


title: Onion content: is caused by "Botrytis allii", which attacks the neck and upper parts of the bulb, causing a grey mould to develop. The symptoms often first occur where the bulb has been damaged and spread downwards in the affected scales. Large quantities of spores are produced and crust-like sclerotia may also develop. In time, a dry rot sets in and the bulb becomes a dry, mummified structure. This disease may be present throughout the growing period, but only manifests itself when the bulb is in storage. Antifungal seed dressings are available and the disease can be minimised by preventing physical damage


title: Onion content: to the bulbs at harvesting, careful drying and curing of the mature onions, and correct storage in a cool, dry place with plenty of circulating air. Cooking onions and sweet onions are better stored at room temperature, optimally in a single layer, in mesh bags in a dry, cool, dark, well-ventilated location. In this environment, cooking onions have a shelf life of three to four weeks and sweet onions one to two weeks. Cooking onions will absorb odours from apples and pears. Also, they draw moisture from vegetables with which they are stored which may cause them to decay. Sweet


title: Onion content: onions have a greater water and sugar content than cooking onions. This makes them sweeter and milder tasting, but reduces their shelf life. Sweet onions can be stored refrigerated; they have a shelf life of around 1 month. Irrespective of type, any cut pieces of onion are best tightly wrapped, stored away from other produce, and used within two to three days. Most of the diversity within "A. cepa" occurs within this group, the most economically important "Allium" crop. Plants within this group form large single bulbs, and are grown from seed or seed-grown sets. The majority of cultivars grown


title: Onion content: for dry bulbs, salad onions, and pickling onions belong to this group. The range of diversity found among these cultivars includes variation in photoperiod (length of day that triggers bulbing), storage life, flavour, and skin colour. Common onions range from the pungent varieties used for dried soups and onion powder to the mild and hearty sweet onions, such as the Vidalia from Georgia, USA, or Walla Walla from Washington that can be sliced and eaten raw on a sandwich. This group contains shallots and potato onions, also referred to as multiplier onions. The bulbs are smaller than those of common


title: Onion content: onions, and a single plant forms an aggregate cluster of several bulbs from a master. They are propagated almost exclusively from daughter bulbs, although reproduction from seed is possible. Shallots are the most important subgroup within this group and comprise the only cultivars cultivated commercially. They form aggregate clusters of small, narrowly ovoid to pear-shaped bulbs. Potato onions differ from shallots in forming larger bulbs with fewer bulbs per cluster, and having a flattened (onion-like) shape. However, intermediate forms exist. I'itoi onion is a prolific multiplier onion cultivated in the Baboquivari Peak Wilderness, Arizona area. This small-bulb type has a


title: Onion content: shallot-like flavour and is easy to grow and ideal for hot, dry climates. Bulbs are separated, and planted in the fall 1 in below the surface and 12 in apart. Bulbs will multiply into clumps and can be harvested throughout the cooler months. Tops die back in the heat of summer and may return with heavy rains; bulbs can remain in the ground or be harvested and stored in a cool dry place for planting in the fall. The plants rarely flower; propagation is by division. A number of hybrids are cultivated that have "A. cepa" parentage, such as the


title: Onion content: diploid tree onion or Egyptian onion ("A." ×"proliferum"), and the triploid onion ("A." ×"cornutum"). The tree onion or Egyptian onion produces bulblets in the umbel instead of flowers, and is now known to be a hybrid of "A. cepa" and "A. fistulosum". It has previously been treated as a variety of "A. cepa", for example "A. cepa" var. "proliferum", "A. cepa" var. "bulbiferum", and "A. cepa" var. "viviparum". It has been grown for centuries in Japan and China for use as a salad onion. The triploid onion is a hybrid species with three sets of chromosomes, two sets from "A.


title: Onion content: cepa" and the third set from an unknown parent. Various clones of the triploid onion are grown locally in different regions, such as 'Ljutika' in Croatia, and 'Pran', 'Poonch', and 'Srinagar' in the India-Kashmir region. 'Pran' is grown extensively in the northern Indian provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. There are very small genetic differences between 'Pran' and the Croatian clone 'Ljutika', implying a monophyletic origin for this species. Some authors have used the name "A. cepa" var. "viviparum" (Metzg.) Alef. for the triploid onion, but this name has also been applied to the Egyptian onion. The only name unambiguously connected


title: Onion content: with the triploid onion is "A." ×"cornutum". Spring onions or salad onions may be grown from the Welsh onion ("A. fistulosum"), as well as from "A. cepa". Young plants of "A. fistulosum" and "A. cepa" look very similar, but may be distinguished by their leaves, which are circular in cross-section in "A. fistulosum" rather than flattened on one side. In 2016, world production of dried onions was 93.2 million tonnes, led by China and India producing 26% and 21% of the total, respectively. The Onion Futures Act, passed in 1958, bans the trading of futures contracts on onions in the


title: Onion content: United States. This prohibition came into force after farmers complained about alleged market manipulation by Sam Siegel and Vincent Kosuga at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange two years earlier. The subsequent investigation provided economists with a unique case study into the effects of futures trading on agricultural prices. The act remains in effect . Onion The onion ("Allium cepa" L., from Latin "cepa" "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus "Allium". Its close relatives include the garlic, leek, chive, and Chinese onion. This genus also


title: Guillotine content: Guillotine A guillotine (; ) is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. The condemned person is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, to quickly fall and forcefully decapitate the victim with a single, clean pass so that the head falls into a basket below. The device is best known for its use in France, in particular during the French


title: Guillotine content: Revolution, where it was celebrated as the people's avenger by supporters of the revolution and vilified as the pre-eminent symbol of the Reign of Terror by opponents. The name dates from this period, but similar devices had been used elsewhere in Europe over several centuries. The display of severed heads had long been one of the most common ways a European sovereign displayed their power to their subjects. The guillotine remained France’s standard method of judicial execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981. The last person to be executed in France was Hamida Djandoubi, who was guillotined on


title: Guillotine content: 10 September 1977. This was also the last time that the government of a Western nation ever executed an individual by beheading. The use of beheading machines in Europe long predates such use during the French revolution in 1792. An early example of the principle is found in the "High History of the Holy Grail", dated to about 1210. Although the device is imaginary, its function is clear. The text says: The Halifax Gibbet was a wooden structure consisting of two wooden uprights, capped by a horizontal beam, of a total height of . The blade was an axe head


title: Guillotine content: weighing 3.5 kg (7.7 lb), attached to the bottom of a massive wooden block that slid up and down in grooves in the uprights. This device was mounted on a large square platform high. It is not known when the Halifax Gibbet was first used; the first recorded execution in Halifax dates from 1280, but that execution may have been by sword, axe, or gibbet. The machine remained in use until Oliver Cromwell forbade capital punishment for petty theft. It was used for the last time, for the execution of two criminals on a single day, on 30 April 1650.


title: Guillotine content: Holinshed's Chronicles of 1577 included a picture of "The execution of Murcod Ballagh near Merton in Ireland in 1307" showing a similar execution machine, suggesting its early use in Ireland. The Maiden was constructed in 1564 for the Provost and Magistrates of Edinburgh, and it was in use from April 1565 to 1710. One of those executed was James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, in 1581, and a 1644 publication began circulating the legend that Morton himself had commissioned the Maiden after he had seen the Halifax Gibbet. The Maiden was readily dismantled for storage and transport, and it is


title: Guillotine content: now on display in the National Museum of Scotland. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, together with German engineer Tobias Schmidt, built a prototype for the guillotine. Schmidt recommended using an angled blade as opposed to a round one. On 10 October 1789, physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed to the National Assembly that capital punishment should always take the form of decapitation "by means of a simple mechanism." Sensing the growing discontent, Louis XVI banned the use of the breaking wheel. In 1791, as the French Revolution progressed, the National Assembly researched a new method to be used on all condemned people regardless of class,


title: Guillotine content: consistent with the idea that the purpose of capital punishment was simply to end life rather than to inflict pain. A committee was formed under Antoine Louis, physician to the King and Secretary to the Academy of Surgery. Guillotin was also on the committee. The group was influenced by the Italian Mannaia (or Mannaja: which had been used ever since Roman times), the Scottish Maiden and the Halifax Gibbet, which was fitted with an axe head weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces (3.5 kg). While these prior instruments usually crushed the neck or used blunt force to take off a head,


title: Guillotine content: devices also usually used a crescent blade and a lunette (a hinged two part yoke to immobilize the victim's neck). Laquiante, an officer of the Strasbourg criminal court, designed a beheading machine and employed Tobias Schmidt, a German engineer and harpsichord maker, to construct a prototype. Antoine Louis is also credited with the design of the prototype. The memoirs of the official executioner claim that King Louis XVI (an amateur locksmith) recommended that an oblique blade be used instead of a crescent blade, lest the blade not fit all necks (ironically, the king's own was offered up discreetly as an


title: Guillotine content: example). The first execution by guillotine was performed on highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier on 25 April 1792. He was executed in front of what is now the city hall of Paris (Place de l'hôtel de ville). All citizens deemed guilty of a crime punishable by death were from then on executed there, until the scaffold was moved on 21 August to the Place du Carrousel. The machine was successful because it was considered a humane form of execution, contrasting with the methods used in pre-revolutionary "Ancien Régime". In France, before the invention of the guillotine, members of the nobility were


title: Guillotine content: beheaded with a sword or an axe, which often took two or more blows to kill the condemned. (The condemned or their families would sometimes pay the executioner to ensure that the blade was sharp, to achieve a quick and relatively painless death.) Commoners were usually hanged, which could take many minutes. In the early phase of the French Revolution, the slogan "À la lanterne" (in English: To the Lamp Post!, String Them Up! or Hang Them!) had become a symbol of popular justice in revolutionary France. The revolutionary radicals hanged officials and aristocrats from street lanterns. Other more gruesome


title: Guillotine content: methods of execution were also used, such as the wheel or burning at the stake. The guillotine was thus perceived to deliver an immediate death without risk of suffocation. Furthermore, having only one method of civil execution was seen as an expression of equality among citizens. The guillotine was then the only civil legal execution method in France until the abolition of the death penalty in 1981, apart from certain crimes against the security of the state, or for the death sentences passed by military courts, which entailed execution by firing squad. For a period of time after its invention,


title: Guillotine content: the guillotine was called a louisette. However, it was later named after Guillotin who had proposed that a less painful method of execution should be found in place of the breaking wheel, though he opposed the death penalty and bemoaned the association of the guillotine with his name. Louis Collenot d'Angremont was a royalist famed for having been the first guillotined for his political ideas, on 21 August 1792. From June 1793 to July 1794 (the Reign of Terror) about 17,000 people were guillotined. Former King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were executed at the guillotine in 1793. Towards


title: Guillotine content: the end of the Terror in 1794, revolutionary leaders such as Georges Danton, Saint-Just and Maximilian Robespierre were sent to the guillotine. Most of the time, executions in Paris were carried out in the Place de la Revolution (former Place Louis XV and current Place de la Concorde); the guillotine stood in the corner near the Hôtel Crillon where the statue of Brest can be found today. The machine was moved several times, to the Place de la Nation, the Place de la Bastille but returned especially for the assassination of the king and for Robespierre. For a time, executions


title: Guillotine content: by guillotine were a popular form of entertainment that attracted great crowds of spectators, with vendors selling programs listing the names of the condemned. But more than popular entertainment alone, during the Reign of Terror, the guillotine symbolized revolutionary ideals: equality in death equivalent to equality before the law, open and demonstrable revolutionary justice, and the destruction of privilege under the "Ancien Régime" which included separate forms of execution for the nobility. As such, the guillotine was considered a positive force for progress by the Parisian "sans-culottes", the popular public face of lower-class patriotic radicalism in the French Revolution. After


title: Guillotine content: the French Revolution, executions began again in the city center. On 4 February 1832, the guillotine was moved behind the church of Saint Jacques, just before being moved again, to the Grande Roquette prison, on 29 November 1851. On 6 August 1909, the guillotine was used on the junction of the Boulevard Arago and the Rue de la Santé, behind the La Santé Prison. The last public guillotining in France was of Eugen Weidmann, who was convicted of six murders. He was beheaded on 17 June 1939 outside the prison Saint-Pierre, rue Georges Clemenceau 5 at Versailles, which is now


title: Guillotine content: the Palais de Justice. A number of problems with that execution (inappropriate behavior by spectators, incorrect assembly of the apparatus, and the fact that it was secretly filmed) caused the French government to order that future executions be conducted in private in the prison courtyard. The guillotine remained the official method of execution in France until the death penalty was abolished in 1981. The final three guillotinings in France before its abolition were those of child-murderers Christian Ranucci (on 28 July 1976) in Marseille, Jérôme Carrein (on 23 June 1977) in Douai and torturer-murderer Hamida Djandoubi (on 10 September 1977)


title: Guillotine content: in Marseille. In the late 1840s the Tussaud brothers Joseph and Francis, gathering relics for Madame Tussauds wax museum, visited the aged Henry-Clément Sanson, grandson of the executioner Charles Henri Sanson, from whom they obtained parts, the knife and lunette, of one of the original guillotines used during the Reign of Terror. The executioner had "pawned his guillotine, and got into woeful trouble for alleged trafficking in municipal property". A number of countries, primarily in Europe, continued to employ this method of execution into the 19th and 20th centuries. In Antwerp (Belgium), the last person to be beheaded was Francis


title: Guillotine content: Kol. Convicted of robbery and murder, he received his punishment on 8 May 1856. During the period from 19 March 1798, until 30 March 1856, there were 19 beheadings in Antwerp. In Germany, where the guillotine is known as the "Fallbeil" ("falling axe"), it was used in various German states from the 19th century onwards, becoming the preferred method of execution in Napoleonic times in many parts of Germany. The guillotine and the firing squad were the legal methods of execution during the era of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). The original German guillotines resembled the


title: Guillotine content: French Berger 1872 model, but they eventually evolved into more specialized machines largely built of metal with a much heavier blade enabling shorter uprights to be used. Accompanied by a more efficient blade recovery system and the eventual removal of the tilting board (or bascule) this allowed a quicker turn-around time between executions, those deemed likely to struggle were backed up from behind a curtain in order to shield their view of the device. Additionally, the blade was covered by a metal screen in order to hide it from sight. The guillotine was used in Nazi Germany between 1933 and


title: Guillotine content: 1945 to execute 16,500 prisoners, including 10,000 executions between 1944–1945 alone. One of these Nazi executions was that of Sophie Scholl, who was convicted of high treason after distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets at the University of Munich with her brother Hans, and other members of the German student resistance group, the White Rose. The guillotine was used for the last time in West Germany in 1949 (in the execution of Richard Schuh) and it was last used in East Germany in 1966 (in the execution of Horst Fischer). The guillotine was used in East Germany by the Stasi between 1950 and


title: Guillotine content: 1966 for secret executions. In Switzerland it was used for the last time by the canton of Obwalden in the execution of murderer Hans Vollenweider in 1940. The guillotine was also introduced into Greece in 1834, along with the firing squad, as a method of execution. It was last used in Greece in 1913. In Sweden, where beheading became the mandatory method of execution in 1866, the guillotine replaced manual beheading in 1903 and it was used only once, in the execution of murderer Alfred Ander in 1910 at Långholmen Prison, Stockholm. He was also the last person to be


title: Guillotine content: executed in Sweden before capital punishment was abolished in that country in 1921. Swedish child killer Hilda Nilsson was scheduled to be executed by guillotine in 1917. She evaded that fate when her death sentence was commuted to life in prison. She hanged herself in prison before the commutation was communicated to her. In South Vietnam, after the Diệm regime enacted the 10/59 Decree in 1959, mobile special military courts were dispatched to the countryside in order to intimidate the rural population and they used guillotines which had belonged to the former French colonial power in order to carry out


title: Guillotine content: death sentences on the spot. One such guillotine is still on show at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. The only recorded use of the guillotine in North America took place on the French island of St. Pierre in 1889, of Basque-born assassin Carlos Zuzuarregui, with a guillotine brought in from Guadeloupe. In the Caribbean, it was used more routinely in Guadeloupe and Martinique, the last time in Fort-de-France in 1965. In 1996 in the US, Georgia State Representative Doug Teper unsuccessfully sponsored a bill to replace that state's electric chair with the guillotine. In recent years,


title: Guillotine content: a number of individuals have committed suicide by means of a guillotine which they had constructed themselves. From its first use, there has been debate as to whether the guillotine always provided a swift death as Guillotin had hoped. With previous methods of execution intended to be painful, there was little concern about the level of suffering that they inflicted. Because the guillotine was invented specifically to be humane, the issue of pain and suffering was seriously considered. The question of consciousness following decapitation remained a topic of discussion during the guillotine's use. The following report was written by Dr.


title: Guillotine content: Beaurieux, who observed the head of executed prisoner Henri Languille, on 28 June 1905: During the span of its usage, the French guillotine has gone by many names, some of which include these: Guillotine A guillotine (; ) is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. The condemned person is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, to quickly fall and


title: Rights content: rights may allow or require inaction, and these are called "negative rights"; they permit or require doing nothing. For example, in some countries, e.g. the United States, citizens have the "positive right" to vote and they have the "negative right" to not vote; people can choose not to vote in a given election without punishment. In other countries, e.g. Australia, however, citizens have a positive right to vote but they don't have a negative right to not vote, since voting is compulsory. Accordingly: Though similarly named, positive and negative rights should not be confused with "active rights" (which encompass "privileges"


title: Silk content: Silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm "Bombyx mori" reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors. Silk is produced by several insects, like silk worms but generally only


title: Dam content: include: Impact is assessed in several ways: the benefits to human society arising from the dam (agriculture, water, damage prevention and power), harm or benefit to nature and wildlife, impact on the geology of an area (whether the change to water flow and levels will increase or decrease stability), and the disruption to human lives (relocation, loss of archeological or cultural matters underwater). Reservoirs held behind dams affect many ecological aspects of a river. Rivers topography and dynamics depend on a wide range of flows, whilst rivers below dams often experience long periods of very stable flow conditions or sawtooth


title: "ZIP Code" content: internal routing of a package. , there were over 42,000 ZIP Codes in the United States. ZIP Codes are used not only for tracking of mail but also in gathering geographical statistics in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau calculates approximate boundaries of ZIP Codes areas, which it calls ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs). Statistical census data is then provided for these approximate areas. The geographic data provided for these areas includes the latitude and longitude of the center-point of the ZCTAs. There are approximately 32,000 ZCTAs. The reason that there is not one ZCTA for every ZIP Code


title: "Magic square" content: paired with ("n" - 1)! Latin squares, and since for each of Greek square the middle term may be arbitrarily placed in the main diagonal or the skew diagonal (and correspondingly along the skew diagonal or the main diagonal for the Latin squares), we can construct a total of 2 × ("n" - 1)! × ("n" - 1)! magic squares using this method. For "n" = 3, 5, and 7, this will give 8, 1152, and 1,036,800 different magic squares, respectively. Dividing by 8 to neglect equivalent squares due to rotation and reflections, we obtain 1, 144, and 129,600 essentially


title: "Wild boar" content: Wild boar The wild boar ("Sus scrofa"), also known as the wild swine, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. Human intervention has spread its distribution further, making the species one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world, as well as the most widely spread suiform. Its wide range, high numbers, and adaptability mean that it is classed as least concern by the IUCN and it has become an invasive species in part of its introduced range. The animal probably originated in Southeast Asia during


title: "Wild boar" content: the Early Pleistocene, and outcompeted other suid species as it spread throughout the Old World. As of 1990, up to 16 subspecies are recognized, which are divided into four regional groupings based on skull height and lacrimal bone length. The species lives in matriarchal societies consisting of interrelated females and their young (both male and female). Fully grown males are usually solitary outside the breeding season. The grey wolf is the wild boar's main predator throughout most of its range, except in the Far East and the Lesser Sunda Islands, where it is replaced by the tiger and Komodo dragon,


title: "Wild boar" content: respectively. It has a long history of association with humans, having been the ancestor of most domestic pig breeds and a big-game animal for millennia. Boars have also re-hybridized in recent decades with feral pigs; these boar–pig hybrids have become a serious pest animal in Australia, Canada, and the United States. As true wild boars became extinct in Great Britain before the development of Modern English, the same terms are often used for both true wild boar and pigs, especially large or semi-wild ones. The English 'boar' stems from the Old English , which is thought to be derived from


title: "Wild boar" content: the West Germanic "*bairaz", of unknown origin. Boar is sometimes used specifically to refer to males, and may also be used to refer to male domesticated pigs, especially breeding males that have not been castrated. 'Sow', the traditional name for a female, again comes from Old English and Germanic; it stems from Proto-Indo-European, and is related to the and Greek "hus", and more closely to the New High German . The young may be called 'piglets'. The animals' specific name "scrofa" is Latin for 'sow'. In hunting terminology, boars are given different designations according to their age: MtDNA studies indicate


title: "Wild boar" content: that the wild boar originated from islands in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and subsequently spread onto mainland Eurasia and North Africa. The earliest fossil finds of the species come from both Europe and Asia, and date back to the Early Pleistocene. By the late Villafranchian, "S. scrofa" largely displaced the related "S. strozzii", a large, possibly swamp-adapted suid ancestral to the modern "S. verrucosus" throughout the Eurasian mainland, restricting it to insular Asia. Its closest wild relative is the bearded pig of Malacca and surrounding islands. , 16 subspecies are recognised, which are divided into four


title: "Wild boar" content: regional groupings: With the exception of domestic pigs in Timor and Papua New Guinea (which appear to be of Sulawesi warty pig stock), the wild boar is the ancestor of most pig breeds. Archaeological evidence suggests that pigs were domesticated from wild boar as early as 13,000–12,700 BC in the Near East in the Tigris Basin being managed in the wild in a way similar to the way they are managed by some modern New Guineans. Remains of pigs have been dated to earlier than 11,400 BC in Cyprus. Those animals must have been introduced from the mainland, which suggests


title: "Wild boar" content: domestication in the adjacent mainland by then. There was also a separate domestication in China which took place about 8000 years ago. DNA evidence from sub-fossil remains of teeth and jawbones of Neolithic pigs shows that the first domestic pigs in Europe had been brought from the Near East. This stimulated the domestication of local European wild boars, resulting in a third domestication event with the Near Eastern genes dying out in European pig stock. Modern domesticated pigs have involved complex exchanges, with European domesticated lines being exported in turn to the ancient Near East. Historical records indicate that Asian


title: "Wild boar" content: pigs were introduced into Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Domestic pigs tend to have much more developed hindquarters than their wild boar ancestors, to the point where 70% of their body weight is concentrated in the posterior, which is the opposite of wild boar, where most of the muscles are concentrated on the head and shoulders. The wild boar is a bulky, massively built suid with short and relatively thin legs. The trunk is short and massive, while the hindquarters are comparatively underdeveloped. The region behind the shoulder blades rises into a hump, and the neck is


title: "Wild boar" content: short and thick, to the point of being nearly immobile. The animal's head is very large, taking up to one third of the body's entire length. The structure of the head is well suited for digging. The head acts as a plough, while the powerful neck muscles allow the animal to upturn considerable amounts of soil: it is capable of digging into frozen ground and can upturn rocks weighing . The eyes are small and deep-set, and the ears long and broad. The species has well developed canine teeth, which protrude from the mouths of adult males. The middle hooves


title: "Wild boar" content: are larger and more elongated than the lateral ones, and are capable of quick movements. The animal can run at a maximum speed of 40 km/h and jump at a height of . Sexual dimorphism is very pronounced in the species, with males being typically 5–10% larger and 20–30% heavier than females. Males also sport a mane running down the back, which is particularly apparent during autumn and winter. The canine teeth are also much more prominent in males, and grow throughout life. The upper canines are relatively short and grow sideways early in life, though gradually curve upwards. The


title: "Wild boar" content: lower canines are much sharper and longer, with the exposed parts measuring in length. In the breeding period, males develop a coating of subcutaneous tissue, which may be thick, extending from the shoulder blades to the rump, thus protecting vital organs during fights. Males sport a roughly egg-sized sack near the opening of the penis, which collects urine and emits a sharp odour. The function of this is not fully understood. Adult size and weight is largely determined by environmental factors; boars living in arid areas with little productivity tend to attain smaller sizes than their counterparts inhabiting areas with


title: "Wild boar" content: abundant food and water. In most of Europe, males average in weight, in shoulder height and in body length, whereas females average in weight, in shoulder height and in body length. In Europe's Mediterranean regions, males may reach average weights as low as and females , with shoulder heights of . In the more productive areas of Eastern Europe, males average in weight, in shoulder height and in body length, while females weigh , reach in shoulder height and in body length. In Western and Central Europe, the largest males weigh and females . In North-Eastern Asia, large males can


title: "Wild boar" content: reach brown bear-like sizes, weighing and measuring in shoulder height. Some adult males in Ussuriland and Manchuria have been recorded to weigh and measure in shoulder height. Adults of this size are generally immune from wolf predation. Such giants are rare in modern times, due to past overhunting preventing animals from attaining their full growth. The winter coat consists of long, coarse bristles underlaid with short brown downy fur. The length of these bristles varies along the body, with the shortest being around the face and limbs and the longest running along the back. These back bristles form the aforementioned


title: "Wild boar" content: mane prominent in males and stand erect when the animal is agitated. Colour is highly variable; specimens around Lake Balkhash are very lightly coloured, and can even be white, while some boars from Belarus and Ussuriland can be black. Some subspecies sport a light coloured patch running backward from the corners of the mouth. Coat colour also varies with age, with piglets having light brown or rusty-brown fur with pale bands extending from the flanks and back. The wild boar produces a number of different sounds which are divided into three categories: Its sense of smell is very well developed,


title: "Wild boar" content: to the point that the animal is used for drug detection in Germany. Its hearing is also acute, though its eyesight is comparatively weak, lacking colour vision and being unable to recognise a standing human 10–15 metres away. Pigs are one of four known mammalian species which possess mutations in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that protect against snake venom. Mongooses, honey badgers, hedgehogs, and pigs all have modifications to the receptor pocket which prevents the snake venom α-neurotoxin from binding. These represent four separate, independent mutations. Boars are typically social animals, living in female-dominated sounders consisting of barren sows and


title: "Wild boar" content: mothers with young led by an old matriarch. Male boars leave their sounder at the age of 8–15 months, while females either remain with their mothers or establish new territories nearby. Subadult males may live in loosely knit groups, while adult and elderly males tend to be solitary outside the breeding season. The breeding period in most areas lasts from November to January, though most mating only lasts a month and a half. Prior to mating, the males develop their subcutaneous armor, in preparation for confronting rivals. The testicles double in size and the glands secrete a foamy yellowish liquid.


title: "Wild boar" content: Once ready to reproduce, males travel long distances in search of a sounder of sows, eating little on the way. Once a sounder has been located, the male drives off all young animals and persistently chases the sows. At this point, the male fiercely fights potential rivals. A single male can mate with 5–10 sows. By the end of the rut, males are often badly mauled and have lost 20% of their body weight, with bite-induced injuries to the penis being common. The gestation period varies according to the age of the expecting mother. For first time breeders, it lasts


title: "Wild boar" content: 114–130 days, while it lasts 133–140 days in older sows. Farrowing occurs between March and May, with litter sizes depending on the age and nutrition of the mother. The average litter consists of 4–6 piglets, with the maximum being 10–12. The piglets are whelped in a nest constructed from twigs, grasses and leaves. Should the mother die prematurely, the piglets are adopted by the other sows in the sounder. Newborn piglets weigh around 600–1,000 grams, lacking underfur and bearing a single milk incisor and canine on each half of the jaw. There is intense competition between the piglets over the


title: "Wild boar" content: most milk-rich nipples, as the best fed young grow faster and have stronger constitutions. The piglets do not leave the lair for their first week of life. Should the mother be absent, the piglets lie closely pressed to each other. By two weeks of age, the piglets begin accompanying their mother on her journeys. Should danger be detected, the piglets take cover or stand immobile, relying on their camouflage to keep them hidden. The neonatal coat fades after three months, with adult colouration being attained at eight months. Although the lactation period lasts 2.5–3.5 months, the piglets begin displaying adult


title: "Wild boar" content: feeding behaviors at the age of 2–3 weeks. The permanent dentition is fully formed by 1–2 years. With the exception of the canines in males, the teeth stop growing during the middle of the fourth year. The canines in old males continue to grow throughout their lives, curving strongly as they age. Sows attain sexual maturity at the age of one year, with males attaining it a year later. However, estrus usually first occurs after two years in sows, while males begin participating in the rut after 4–5 years, as they are not permitted to mate by the older males.


title: "Wild boar" content: The maximum lifespan in the wild is 10–14 years, though few specimens survive past 4–5 years. Boars in captivity have lived for 20 years. The wild boar inhabits a diverse array of habitats from boreal taigas to deserts. In mountainous regions, it can even occupy alpine zones, occurring up to 1,900 meters in the Carpathians, 2,600 meters in the Caucasus and up to 3,600–4,000 meters in the mountains in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. In order to survive in a given area, wild boars require a habitat fulfilling three conditions: heavily brushed areas providing shelter from predators, water for drinking and


title: "Wild boar" content: bathing purposes and an absence of regular snowfall. The main habitats favored by boars in Europe are deciduous and mixed forests, with the most favorable areas consisting of forest composed of oak and beech enclosing marshes and meadows. In the Białowieża Forest, the animal's primary habitat consists of well developed, broad-leaved and mixed forests, along with marshy mixed forests, with coniferous forests and undergrowths being of secondary importance. Forests made up entirely of oak groves and beeches are used only during the fruit-bearing season. This is in contrast to the Caucasian and Transcaucasian mountain areas, where boars will occupy such


title: "Wild boar" content: fruit-bearing forests year-round. In the mountainous areas of the Russian Far East, the species inhabits nutpine groves, hilly mixed forests where Mongolian oak and Korean pine are present, swampy mixed taiga and coastal oak forests. In Transbaikalia, boars are restricted to river valleys with nut pine and shrubs. Boars are regularly encountered in pistachio groves in winter in some areas of Tajikistan and Turkmenia, while in spring they migrate to open deserts; boar have also colonized deserts in several areas they have been introduced to. On the islands of Komodo and Rinca, the boar mostly inhabits savanna or open monsoon


title: "Wild boar" content: forests, avoiding heavily forested areas unless pursued by humans. Wild boar are known to be competent swimmers, capable of covering long distances. In 2013, one boar was reported to have completed the seven mile swim from France to Alderney in the Channel Islands. Due to concerns about disease it was shot and incinerated. Wild boar rest in shelters, which contain insulating material like spruce branches and dry hay. These resting places are occupied by whole families (though males lie separately), and are often located in the vicinity of streams, in swamp forests, in tall grass or shrub thickets. Boars never


title: "Wild boar" content: defecate in their shelters, and will cover themselves with soil and pine needles when irritated by insects. The wild boar is a highly versatile omnivore, whose diversity in choice of food rivals that of humans. Their foods can be divided into four categories: A boar needs around 4,000–4,500 calories of food per day, though this required amount increases during winter and pregnancy, with the majority of its diet consisting of food items dug from the ground like underground plant material and burrowing animals. Acorns and beechnuts are invariably its most important food items in temperate zones, as they are rich


title: "Wild boar" content: in the carbohydrates necessary for the buildup of fat reserves needed to survive lean periods. In Western Europe, underground plant material favoured by boars includes bracken, willow herb, bulbs, meadow herb roots and bulbs, and the bulbs of cultivated crops. Such food is favoured in early spring and summer, but may also be eaten in autumn and winter during beechnut and acorn crop failures. Should regular wild foods become scarce, boars will eat tree bark and fungi, as well as visit cultivated potato and artichoke fields. Boar soil disturbance and foraging have been shown to facilitate invasive plants. Boars of


title: "Wild boar" content: the "vittatus" subspecies in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java differ from most other populations by their primarily frugivorous diet, which consists of 50 different fruit species, especially figs, thus making them important seed dispersers. The wild boar can consume numerous genera of poisonous plants without ill effect, including "Aconitum", "Anemone", "Calla", "Caltha", "Ferula", and "Pteridium". Boars may occasionally prey on small vertebrates like newborn deer fawns, leporids and galliform chicks. Boars inhabiting the Volga Delta and near some lakes and rivers of Kazakhstan have been recorded to feed extensively on fish like carp and Caspian roach. Boars in the


title: "Wild boar" content: former area will also feed on cormorant and heron chicks, bivalved molluscs, trapped muskrats and mice. There is at least one record of a boar killing and eating a bonnet macaque in southern India's Bandipur National Park, though this may have been a case of intraguild predation, brought on by interspecific competition for human handouts. Piglets are vulnerable to attack from medium-sized felids like lynx, jungle cats and snow leopards and other carnivorans like brown bears and yellow-throated martens. The grey wolf is the main predator of wild boar throughout most of its range. A single wolf can kill around


title: "Wild boar" content: 50 to 80 boars of differing ages in one year. In Italy and Belarus' Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, boars are the wolf's primary prey, despite an abundance of alternative, less powerful ungulates. Wolves are particularly threatening during the winter, when deep snow impedes the boars' movements. In the Baltic regions, heavy snowfall can allow wolves to eliminate boars from an area almost completely. Wolves primarily target piglets and subadults, and only rarely attack adult sows. Adult males are usually avoided entirely. Dholes may also prey on boars, to the point of keeping their numbers down in northwestern Bhutan, despite there


title: "Wild boar" content: being many more cattle in the area. Leopards are predators of wild boar in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, the Russian Far East, India, China, and Iran. In most areas, boars constitute only a small part of the leopard's diet. However, in Iran's Sarigol National Park, boars are the second most frequently targeted prey species after mouflon, though adult individuals are generally avoided, as they are above the leopard's preferred weight range of . This dependence on wild boar is largely due in part to the local leopard subspecies' large size. Boars of all ages were once the primary prey of tigers


title: "Wild boar" content: in Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Middle Asia and the Far East up until the late 19th century. In modern times, tiger numbers are too low to have a limiting effect on boar populations. A single tiger can systematically destroy an entire sounder by preying on its members one by one, before moving on to another herd. Tigers have been noted to chase boars for longer distances than with other prey. In two rare cases, boars were reported to gore a small tiger and a tigress to death in self-defense. In the Amur region, wild boars are one of the two most important


title: "Wild boar" content: prey species for tigers alongside the Manchurian wapiti, with the two species collectively comprising roughly 80% of the felid's prey. In Sikhote Alin, a tiger can kill 30–34 boars a year. Studies of tigers in India indicate that boars are usually secondary in preference to various cervids and bovids, though when boars are targeted, healthy adults are caught more frequently than young and sick specimens. On the islands of Komodo, Rinca, and Flores, the boar's main predator is the Komodo dragon. The species originally occurred in North Africa and much of Eurasia; from the British Isles to Korea and the


title: "Wild boar" content: Sunda Islands. The northern limit of its range extended from southern Scandinavia to southern Siberia and Japan. Within this range, it was only absent in extremely dry deserts and alpine zones. It was once found in North Africa along the Nile valley up to Khartum and north of the Sahara. The species occurs on a few Ionian and Aegean Islands, sometimes swimming between islands. The reconstructed northern boundary of the animal's Asian range ran from Lake Ladoga (at 60°N) through the area of Novgorod and Moscow into the southern Urals, where it reached 52°N. From there, the boundary passed Ishim


title: "Wild boar" content: and farther east the Irtysh at 56°N. In the eastern Baraba steppe (near Novosibirsk) the boundary turned steep south, encircled the Altai Mountains, and went again eastward including the Tannu-Ola Mountains and Lake Baikal. From here the boundary went slightly north of the Amur River eastward to its lower reaches at the Sea of Okhotsk. On Sakhalin, there are only fossil reports of wild boar. The southern boundaries in Europe and Asia were almost invariably identical to the seashores of these continents. It is absent in the dry regions of Mongolia from 44–46°N southward, in China westward of Sichuan and


title: "Wild boar" content: in India north of the Himalayas. It is absent in the higher elevations of Pamir and Tien Shan, though they do occur in the Tarim basin and on the lower slopes of the Tien Shan. In recent centuries, the range of wild boar has changed dramatically, largely due to hunting by humans and more recently because of captive wild boar escaping into the wild. Prior to the 20th century, boar populations had declined in numerous areas, with British populations probably becoming extinct during the 13th century. In Denmark, the last boar was shot at the beginning of the 19th century,


title: "Wild boar" content: and in 1900 they were absent in Tunisia and Sudan and large areas of Germany, Austria, and Italy. In Russia, they were extirpated in wide areas in the 1930s. The last boar in Egypt reportedly died on 20 December 1912 in the Giza Zoo, with wild populations having disappeared around 1894–1902. Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein attempted to repopulate Wadi El Natrun with boars of Hungarian stock, but they were quickly exterminated by poachers. A revival of boar populations began in the middle of the 20th century. By 1950 wild boar had once again reached their original northern boundary in


title: "Wild boar" content: many parts of their Asiatic range. By 1960, they reached Leningrad and Moscow, and by 1975 they were to be found in Archangelsk and Astrakhan. In the 1970s they again occurred in Denmark and Sweden, where captive animals escaped and now survive in the wild. In England, wild boar populations re-established themselves in the 1990s, after escaping from specialist farms that had imported European stock. Wild boars were apparently already becoming rare by the 11th century since a 1087 forestry law enacted by William the Conqueror punishes through blinding the unlawful killing of a boar. Charles I attempted to reintroduce


title: "Wild boar" content: the species into the New Forest, though this population was exterminated during the Civil War. Between their medieval extinction and the 1980s, when wild boar farming began, only a handful of captive wild boar, imported from the continent, were present in Britain. Occasional escapes of wild boar from wildlife parks have occurred as early as the 1970s, but since the early 1990s significant populations have re-established themselves after escapes from farms, the number of which has increased as the demand for meat from the species has grown. A 1998 MAFF (now DEFRA) study on wild boar living wild in Britain


title: "Wild boar" content: confirmed the presence of two populations of wild boar living in Britain; one in Kent/East Sussex and another in Dorset. Another DEFRA report, in February 2008, confirmed the existence of these two sites as 'established breeding areas' and identified a third in Gloucestershire/Herefordshire; in the Forest of Dean/Ross on Wye area. A 'new breeding population' was also identified in Devon. There is another significant population in Dumfries and Galloway. Populations estimates were as follows: Population estimates for the Forest of Dean are disputed as at the time that the DEFRA population estimate was 100, a photo of a boar sounder


title: "Wild boar" content: in the forest near Staunton with over 33 animals visible was published, and at about the same time over 30 boar were seen in a field near the original escape location of Weston under Penyard many miles away. In early 2010 the Forestry Commission embarked on a cull, with the aim of reducing the boar population from an estimated 150 animals to 100. By August it was stated that efforts were being made to reduce the population from 200 to 90, but that only 25 had been killed. The failure to meet cull targets was confirmed in February 2011. Wild


title: "Wild boar" content: boars have crossed the River Wye into Monmouthshire, Wales. Iolo Williams, the BBC Wales wildlife expert, attempted to film Welsh boar in late 2012. Many other sightings, across the UK, have also been reported. The effects of wild boar on the UK's woodlands were discussed with Ralph Harmer of the Forestry Commission on the 's "Farming Today" radio programme in 2011. The programme prompted activist writer George Monbiot to propose a thorough population study, followed by the introduction of permit-controlled culling. Wild boars are an invasive species in the Americas, and cause problems including outcompeting native species for food, destroying


title: "Wild boar" content: the nests of ground-nesting species, killing fawns and young domestic livestock, destroying agricultural crops, eating tree seeds and seedlings, destroying native vegetation and wetlands through wallowing, damaging water quality, coming into violent conflict with humans and pets, and carrying pig and human diseases including brucellosis, trichinosis, and pseudorabies. In some jurisdictions, it is illegal to import, breed, release, possess, sell, distribute, trade, transport, hunt, or trap Eurasian boars. Hunting and trapping is done systematically, to increase the chance of eradication and to remove the incentive to illegally release boars, which have mostly been spread deliberately by sport hunters. While domestic


title: "Wild boar" content: pigs, both captive and feral (popularly termed "razorbacks"), have been in North America since the earliest days of European colonization, pure wild boars were not introduced into the New World until the 19th century. The suids were released into the wild by wealthy landowners as big game animals. The initial introductions took place in fenced enclosures, though several escapes occurred, with the escapees sometimes intermixing with already established feral pig populations. The first of these introductions occurred in New Hampshire in 1890. Thirteen wild boars from Germany were purchased by Austin Corbin from Carl Hagenbeck, and released into a 9,500-hectare


title: "Wild boar" content: game preserve in Sullivan County. Several of these boars escaped, though they were quickly hunted down by locals. Two further introductions were made from the original stocking, with several escapes taking place due to breaches in the game preserve's fencing. These escapees have ranged widely, with some specimens having been observed crossing into Vermont. In 1902, 15–20 wild boar from Germany were released into a 3,200-hectare estate in Hamilton County, New York. Several specimens escaped six years later, dispersing into the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area, with their descendants surviving for at least 20 years. The most extensive boar introduction


title: "Wild boar" content: in the US took place in western North Carolina in 1912, when 13 boars of undetermined European origin were released into two fenced enclosures in a game preserve in Hooper Bald, Graham County. Most of the specimens remained in the preserve for the next decade, until a large-scale hunt caused the remaining animals to break through their confines and escape. Some of the boars migrated to Tennessee, where they intermixed with both free-ranging and feral pigs in the area. In 1924, a dozen Hooper Bald wild pigs were shipped to California and released in a property between Carmel Valley and


title: "Wild boar" content: the Los Padres National Forest. These hybrid boar were later used as breeding stock on various private and public lands throughout the state, as well as in other states like Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia and Mississippi. Several wild boars from Leon Springs and the San Antonio, Saint Louis and San Diego Zoos were released in the Powder Horn Ranch in Calhoun County, Texas, in 1939. These specimens escaped and established themselves in surrounding ranchlands and coastal areas, with some crossing the Espiritu Santo Bay and colonizing Matagorda Island. Descendants of the Powder Horn Ranch boars were later released


title: "Wild boar" content: onto San José Island and the coast of Chalmette, Louisiana. Wild boar of unknown origin were stocked in a ranch in the Edwards Plateau in the 1940s, only to escape during a storm and hybridize with local feral pig populations, later spreading into neighboring counties. Starting in the mid-1980s, several boars purchased from the San Diego Zoo and Tierpark Berlin were released into the United States. A decade later, more specimens from farms in Canada and Białowieża Forest was let loose. In recent years, wild pig populations have been reported in 44 states within the US, most of which are


title: "Wild boar" content: likely wild boar–feral hog hybrids. Pure wild boar populations may still be present, but are extremely localized. Wild boars are known to host at least 20 different parasitic worm species, with maximum infections occurring in summer. Young animals are vulnerable to helminths like "Metastrongylus", which are consumed by boars through earthworms, and cause death by parasitising the lungs. Wild boar also carry parasites known to infect humans, including "Gastrodiscoides", "Trichinella spiralis", "Taenia solium", and "Balantidium coli". Wild boar in southern regions are frequently infested with ticks ("Dermacentor", "Rhipicephalus", and "Hyalomma") and hog lice. The species also suffers from blood-sucking flies,


title: "Wild boar" content: which it escapes by bathing frequently or hiding in dense shrubs. Swine plague spreads very quickly in wild boar, with epizootics being recorded in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Belarus, the Caucasus, the Far East, Kazakhstan, and other regions. Foot-and-mouth disease can also take on epidemic proportions in boar populations. The species occasionally, but rarely contracts Pasteurellosis, hemorrhagic septicemia, tularemia and anthrax. Wild boar may on occasion contract swine erysipelas through rodents or hog lice and ticks. The wild boar features prominently in the cultures of Indo-European people, many of which saw the animal as embodying warrior virtues. Cultures throughout Europe and


title: "Wild boar" content: Asia Minor saw the killing of a boar as proof of one's valor and strength. Neolithic hunter gatherers depicted reliefs of ferocious wild boars on their temple pillars at Göbekli Tepe some 11,600 years ago. Virtually all heroes in Greek mythology fight or kill a boar at one point. The demigod Herakles' third labour involves the capture of the Erymanthian Boar, Theseus slays the wild sow Phaea, and a disguised Odysseus is recognised by his handmaiden Eurycleia by the scars inflicted on him by a boar during a hunt in his youth. To the mythical Hyperboreans, the boar represented spiritual


title: "Wild boar" content: authority. Several Greek myths use the boar as a symbol of darkness, death, and winter. One example is the story of the youthful Adonis, who is killed by a boar and is permitted by Zeus to depart from Hades only during the spring and summer period. This theme also occurs in Irish and Egyptian mythology, where the animal is explicitly linked to the month of October, therefore autumn. This association likely arose from aspects of the boar's actual nature. Its dark colour was linked to the night, while its solitary habits, proclivity to consume crops and nocturnal nature were associated


title: "Wild boar" content: with evil. The foundation myth of Ephesus has the city being built over the site where prince Androklos of Athens killed a boar. Boars were frequently depicted on Greek funerary monuments alongside lions, representing gallant losers who have finally met their match, as opposed to victorious hunters as lions are. The theme of the doomed, yet valorous boar warrior also occurred in Hittite culture, where it was traditional to sacrifice a boar alongside a dog and a prisoner of war after a military defeat. The boar as a warrior also appears in Scandinavian, Germanic and Anglo-Saxon culture, with its image


title: "Wild boar" content: having been frequently engraved on helmets, shields, and swords. According to Tacitus, the Baltic Aesti featured boars on their helmets, and may have also worn boar masks (see for example the Guilden Morden boar). The boar and pig were held in particularly high esteem by the Celts, who considered them to be their most important sacred animal. Some Celtic deities linked to boars include Moccus and Veteris. It has been suggested that some early myths surrounding the Welsh hero Culhwch involved the character being the son of a boar god. Nevertheless, the importance of the boar as a culinary item


title: "Wild boar" content: among Celtic tribes may have been exaggerated in popular culture by the "Asterix" series, as wild boar bones are rare among Celtic archaeological sites, and the few that occur show no signs of butchery, having probably been used in sacrificial rituals. The boar also appears in Vedic mythology. A story present in the Brāhmaṇas has Indra slaying an avaricious boar, who has stolen the treasure of the asuras, then giving its carcass to Vishnu, who offered it as a sacrifice to the gods. In the story's retelling in the Charaka Samhita, the boar is described as a form of Prajāpti,


title: "Wild boar" content: and is credited with having raised the earth from the primeval waters. In the Rāmāyaṇa and the Purāṇas, the same boar is portrayed as an avatar of Vishnu. In Japanese culture, the boar is widely seen as a fearsome and reckless animal, to the point that several words and expressions in Japanese referring to recklessness include references to boars. The boar is the last animal of the oriental zodiac, with people born during the year of the Pig being said to embody the boar-like traits of determination and impetuosity. Among Japanese hunters, the boar's courage and defiance is a source


title: "Wild boar" content: of admiration, and it is not uncommon for hunters and mountain people to name their sons after the animal "inoshishi" (猪). Boars are also seen as symbols of fertility and prosperity; in some regions, it is thought that boars are drawn to fields owned by families including pregnant women, and hunters with pregnant wives are thought to have greater chances of success when boar hunting. The animal's link to prosperity was illustrated by its inclusion on the ¥10 note during the Meiji period, and it was once believed that a man could become wealthy by keeping a clump of boar


title: "Wild boar" content: hair in his wallet. In the folklore of the Mongol Altai Uriankhai tribe, the wild boar was associated with the watery underworld, as it was thought that the spirits of the dead entered the animal's head, to be ultimately transported to the water. Prior to the conversion to Islam, the Kyrgyz people believed that they were descended from boars, and thus did not eat pork. In Buryat mythology, the forefathers of the Buryats descended from heaven and were nourished by a boar. In China, the boar is the emblem of the Miao people. The boar (sanglier) is frequently displayed in


title: "Wild boar" content: English, Scottish and Welsh heraldry. As with the lion, the boar is often shown as armed and langued. As with the bear, Scottish and Welsh heraldry displays the boar's head with the neck cropped, unlike the English version, which retains the neck. The white boar served as the badge of King Richard III of England, who distributed it among his northern retainers during his tenure as Duke of Gloucester. Humans have been hunting boar for millennia, with the earliest artistic depictions of such activities dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. The animal was seen as a source of food among


title: "Wild boar" content: the Ancient Greeks, as well as a sporting challenge and source of epic narratives. The Romans inherited this tradition, with one of its first practitioners being Scipio Aemilianus. Boar hunting became particularly popular among the young nobility during the 3rd century BC as preparation for manhood and battle. A typical Roman boar hunting tactic involved surrounding a given area with large nets, then flushing the boar with dogs and immobilizing it with smaller nets. The animal would then be dispatched with a "venabulum", a short spear with a crossguard at the base of the blade. More than their Greek predecessors,


title: "Wild boar" content: the Romans extensively took inspiration from boar hunting in their art and sculpture. With the ascension of Constantine the Great, boar hunting took on Christian allegorical themes, with the animal being portrayed as a "black beast" analogous to the dragon of Saint George. Boar hunting continued after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, though the Germanic tribes considered the red deer to be a more noble and worthy quarry. The post-Roman nobility hunted boar as their predecessors did, but primarily as training for battle rather than sport. It was not uncommon for medieval hunters to deliberately hunt boars during


title: "Wild boar" content: the breeding season when the animals were more aggressive. During the Renaissance, when deforestation and the introduction of firearms reduced boar numbers, boarhunting became the sole prerogative of the nobility, one of many charges brought up against the rich during the German Peasants' War and the French Revolution. During the mid-20th century, 7,000–8,000 boars were caught in the Caucasus, 6,000–7,000 in Kazakhstan, and about 5,000 in Central Asia during the Soviet period, primarily through use of dogs and beats. In Nepal, farmers and poachers eliminate boars by baiting balls of wheat flour containing explosives with kerosene oil, with the animals'


title: "Wild boar" content: chewing motions triggering the devices. Wild boar can thrive in captivity, though piglets grow slowly and poorly without their mothers. Products derived from wild boar include meat, hide and bristles. "Apicius" devotes a whole chapter to the cooking of boar meat, providing ten recipes involving roasting, boiling and what sauces to use. The Romans usually served boar meat with garum. Boar's head was the centrepiece of most medieval Christmas celebrations among the nobility. Although growing in popularity as a captive-bred source of food, the wild boar takes longer to mature than most domestic pigs, and is usually smaller and produces


title: "Wild boar" content: less meat. Nevertheless, wild boar meat is leaner and healthier than pork, being of higher nutritional value and having a much higher concentration of essential amino acids. Most meat-dressing organizations agree that a boar carcass should yield of meat on average. Large specimens can yield of fat, with some giants yielding or more. A boar hide can measure 300 dm, and can yield 350–1000 grams of bristle and 400 grams of underwool. Boars can be damaging to agriculture. Populations living on the outskirts of towns or farms can dig up potatoes and damage melons, watermelons and maize. They generally only


title: "Wild boar" content: encroach upon farms when natural food is scarce. In the Belovezh forest for example, 34–47% of the local boar population will enter fields in years of moderate availability of natural foods. While the role of boars in damaging crops is often exaggerated, cases are known of boar depredations causing famines, as was the case in Hachinohe, Japan in 1749, where 3,000 people died of what became known as the 'wild boar famine'. Still, within Japanese culture, the boar's status as vermin is expressed through its title as "king of pests" and the popular saying (addressed to young men in rural


title: "Wild boar" content: areas) "When you get married, choose a place with no wild boar." In Central Europe, farmers typically repel boars through distraction or fright, while in Kazakhstan it is usual to employ guard dogs in plantations. Although large boar populations can play an important role in limiting forest growth, they are also useful in keeping pest populations such as June bugs under control. The growth of urban areas and the corresponding decline in natural boar habitats has led to some sounders entering human habitations in search of food. As in natural conditions, sounders in peri-urban areas are matriarchal, though males tend


title: "Wild boar" content: to be much less represented, and adults of both sexes can be up to 35% heavier than their forest-dwelling counterparts. As of 2010, at least 44 cities in 15 countries have experienced problems of some kind relating to the presence of habituated wild boar. Actual attacks on humans are rare, but can be serious, resulting in multiple penetrating injuries to the lower part of the body. They generally occur during the boars' rutting season from November to January, in agricultural areas bordering forests or on paths leading through forests. The animal typically attacks by charging and pointing its tusks towards


title: "Wild boar" content: the intended victim, with most injuries occurring on the thigh region. Once the initial attack is over, the boar steps back, takes position and attacks again if the victim is still moving, only ending once the victim is completely incapacitated. Boar attacks on humans have been documented since the Stone Age, with one of the oldest depictions being a cave painting in Bhimbetaka, India. The Romans and Ancient Greeks wrote of these attacks (Odysseus was wounded by a boar, and Adonis was killed by one). A 2012 study compiling recorded attacks from 1825–2012 found accounts of 665 human victims of


title: "Wild boar" content: both wild boars and feral pigs, with the majority (19%) of attacks in the animal's native range occurring in India. Most of the attacks occurred in rural areas during the winter months in non-hunting contexts and were committed by solitary males. Wild boar The wild boar ("Sus scrofa"), also known as the wild swine, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. Human intervention has spread its distribution further, making the species one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world, as well as the most widely


title: "Cliff Richard" content: week and peaked at No. 4. The reunion tour continued into Europe in 2010. In June 2009, it was reported by Sound Kitchen Studios in Nashville that Richard was to return there shortly to record a new album of original recordings of jazz songs. He was to record fourteen tracks in a week. Richard performed "Congratulations" at the 70th birthday celebrations of Queen Margrethe II in Denmark on 13 April 2010. On 14 October 2010, Richard celebrated his 70th birthday and to mark the occasion, he performed a series of six concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London. To accompany


title: "Deposition (law)" content: questions and answers (interrogatories). Often affidavits are exchanged before trial, but the first opportunity to orally question the opposing party's evidence is usually at trial. The process is considered in Canada to be time consuming and expensive when conducted without limits. As a result, Rule 31.05.1 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure has, since January 1, 2010, limited examinations for discovery to seven hours per party except with consent of the other parties or the leave of the Court. British Columbia implemented similar reforms on July 1, 2010, although the new Rule 7-2(2) can be read in two ways,


title: Sumo content: Sumo The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. It is considered a "gendai budō", which refers to modern Japanese martial art, but the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from Shinto. Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal sumo training stables, known in Japanese as "heya", where all aspects of their daily


title: Sumo content: lives—from meals to their manner of dress—are dictated by strict tradition. From 2008 to 2017, a number of high-profile controversies and scandals have rocked the sumo world, with an associated effect on its reputation and ticket sales. These have also affected the sport's ability to attract recruits. Despite this setback, sumo's popularity and general attendance has rebounded due to having multiple "yokozuna" (or grand champions) for the first time in a number of years and other high-profile wrestlers such as Endō and Ichinojō grabbing the public's attention. In addition to its use as a trial of strength in combat, sumo


title: Sumo content: has been associated with Shinto ritual. Some Shinto shrine|shrines]] carry out forms of ritual dance where a human is said to wrestle with a "kami", a Shinto divine spirit. It was an important ritual at the imperial court, where representatives of each province were ordered to attend the contest at the court and fight. The contestants were required to pay for their travel themselves. The contest was known as "sumai no sechie", or "sumai party". Over the rest of Japanese recorded history, sumo's popularity changed according to the whims of rulers and the need for its use as a training


title: Sumo content: tool in periods of civil strife. The form of wrestling combat changed gradually into one where the main aim in victory was to throw one's opponent. The concept of pushing one's opponent out of a defined area came some time later. A ring, defined as something other than simply the area given to the wrestlers by spectators, is also believed to have come into being in the 16th century as a result of a tournament organized by the then principal warlord in Japan, Oda Nobunaga. At this point, wrestlers would wear loose loincloths rather than the much stiffer "mawashi" wrestling


title: Sumo content: belts of today. During the Edo period, wrestlers would wear a fringed decorative apron called a "keshō-mawashi" during the match, whereas today these are worn only during pretournament rituals. Most of the rest of the current forms within the sport developed in the early Edo period. The winner of a sumo bout is generally either the first wrestler to force his opponent to step out of the ring, or the first wrestler to force his opponent to touch the ground with any part of his body other than the bottom of his feet. Also, a number of other less common


title: Sumo content: rules can be used to determine the winner. For example, a wrestler using an illegal technique ("kinjite") automatically loses, as does one whose "mawashi" (belt) comes completely undone. A wrestler failing to show up for his bout (even if due to prior injury) also automatically loses ("fusenpai"). Bouts consist solely of a single round and often last only a few seconds, as usually one wrestler is quickly ousted from the circle or thrown to the ground. However, they can occasionally last for several minutes. Each match is preceded by an elaborate ceremonial ritual. Traditionally, sumo wrestlers are renowned for their


title: Sumo content: great girth and body mass, which is often a winning factor in sumo. No weight divisions are used in professional sumo; a wrestler can sometimes face an opponent twice his own weight. However, with superior technique, smaller wrestlers can control and defeat much larger opponents. In some situations a review of the gyōji's decision may be needed. The judges outside the ring, who sit at eye level (the "shimpan") may convene a conference in the middle of the ring, called a "mono-ii". This is done if the judges decide that the decision over who won the bout needs to be


title: Sumo content: reviewed; for example, if both sumotori appear to touch the ground or step out of the ring at the same time. In these cases, sometimes video is reviewed to see what happened. Once a decision is made, the chief judge will announce the decision to the spectators and the wrestlers alike. They may order a bout to be restarted, or leave the decision as given by the gyōji. Occasionally the shimpan will overrule the gyōji and give the bout to the other wrestler. After the winner is declared, an off-stage "gyōji" (referee) determines the "kimarite" (or winning technique) used in