Hi Jeanette,
My profile pic is an idea of a template you can use to draw hogs faces, which you are welcome to use if it’s any help.
Sometimes if a hog scratches in front of the cam you can tell whether they are male or female. The males have a ‘blob’ roughly mid-abdomen. You can sometimes see this from the side if they are walking up on their legs. The females do occasionally biff another hog, but not usually as aggressively as the males do. The courtship is a fairly reliable way to tell – as Marion described above and then the male circles the female as she turns round. It can go on for hours!
The best way to watch hogs is with binoculars. You see so much more than with just a cam and you can get a really close up view of them. The only thing is, it’s easier if all the bowls are in view. If you leave the light on you will probably find the hogs get used to it. It’s if is goes on and off that they sometimes become more wary. As well as the facial markings, you can check the shade and colouring of the skirt (the fur beneath the spines) and band between, colouring of spines, etc. Sometimes there are sort of ‘bars’ down the skirt and some hogs have naturally much paler spines than others.
If you keep sketches of the hogs, and descriptions as Marion suggests, you will find that you can recognise them year after year.
Good luck.
