Just noticed you’ve added a bit about poo. Seems a perennial question!
Some hogs just seem to poo quite a lot at feeding stations. I, personally, have found that it’s more likely when there are more hogs around. (i.e. when only one hog is visiting, at a time, there are less or no poos in the feeding area) Why it is, exactly, I’m not sure. I have heard said that they have a short digestive tract so food passes through quicker, but that doesn’t explain, to my satisfaction, why it doesn’t always happen – i.e. when there is only one hog around. I have wondered whether, sometimes, there might be an element of nervousness involved (with hogs meeting up – which is more likely to happen at a feeding area – they are normally solitary animals, apart from breeding and rearing young – rearing is done by only the female) but not really sure. They don’t seem to take much notice of the poo, though.
Hogs don’t have territories, as such. They have ranges, which can overlap. So that, a male hog, in particular, might defend his ‘personal space’, for instance, from another hog by showing aggression, but isn’t defending a territory.
