Atypical Movement Behaviour of a Translocated Feral Pig (Sus scrofa)

Understanding the movement patterns of invasive animals, particularly feral ungulates, is essential for managing their populations and assessing risks of pathogen spread among and between populations. Disease spread simulations currently consider how movement behaviours affect the model; however, they do not currently assess the risk of atypical movements to influence disease spread. Here, we describe the atypical movement of a GPS-collared Australian feral pig (Sus scrofa) that was translocated (~12.5km) prior to release. The feral pig travelled over 400km during 34days of GPS tracking (averaging >11kmday⁻¹), more than triple the average daily movement distance of other non-translocated collared pigs within the same study area (x̄=3.17kmday⁻¹, n=19). This observation suggests that translocation could substantially influence feral pig movement behaviour, with potential implications for disease dynamics and management strategies.