106 JACK FM a multipurpose tool which not only locates food but digs it up as well. Wild boar, the European cousin of the eccentric Radio, are unrivalled foragers. They are the least fussy of feeders. Worms make a tasty snack, but pigs know there's plenty of other food here. It's just a question of finding it. Their memories carry the smells and images of all sorts of things that they've previously eaten and assessed. Keeping an open mind means that nothing will be overlooked. Certainly not a decaying pigeon. Foraging in the woodland is not difficult in summer, but what happens when the ground is hidden beneath a blanket of snow? Food is now very scarce. The carcass of an animal killed by the hardships of winter is a valuable prize, but the pigs must continue foraging in their normal way if they're to maintain their strength. They're not just ploughing through the snow at random. They're still guided by their nose, for smell travels through snow. And there's an interesting smell...right here. And here. By following their noses, pigs are able to keep active throughout the winter. Other opportunists use a different tactic. They spend the winter asleep in underground dens and only appear when spring brings better weather. This is the Asiatic racoon dog. Its legs are so short that it has difficulty moving through snow, which may be one reason to hibernate. It too eats almost anything. The females need to do so, for they produce large litters, and supplying all her babies with milk makes great demands on the mother. She's produced fifteen pups. They all need to put on considerable weight to survive the winter, and they'll only be helped by their parents for eight short weeks. Their first food, of course, is their mother's milk. But very soon they need solid food as well, and that too has to be provided by Mother. While she goes off to forage, the male stays to look after the pups. Surprisingly, given the size of his family, he does virtually nothing to help feed them. The female is coming back. She's caught a small rodent. Unlike many canids, they do not regurgitate food for their babies, and, as mouths hold less than stomachs, this limits the amount of food she can bring back on one journey. As a consequence, she has to provide her cubs with milk for twice as long as any other dog does. She'll make a number of journeys every day, but most things she brings are only enough for a single pup. This time she's brought an egg. The pups haven't yet learned how to deal with such a strange object. Is it worth eating, and if so, how? Yes, it is! 106 JACK FM And the pups won't forget. Before long, they must start foraging for themselves, with their parents alongside to give guidance as to what is edible. They don't always get it right. They have to learn fast, for each will have to get as fat as its mother if it's to survive the long sleep through winter and not all the litter will do so. Racoon dogs store food as fat, but another omnivore has a different tactic. 106 JACK FM Chickens, one of mankind's favourite prey, which he keeps in unnatural concentrations to provide himself with fresh meat and eggs all year round.