Scientific Classification
- Common Name
- peccaries (plural), peccary (singular)
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Tayassuidae
- Genus Species
- Three Genera (Catagonus, Pecari, and Tayassu) encompassing three species
Fast Facts
- Description
- Coat is coarse and bristled, with a pronounced mane of longer hairs running along the middorsal region from crown to hindquarters. Body form is quite pig-like with longer, slimmer legs. Additionally, the snout is more elongate than that of a domestic pig.
- Size
- Head and body length: 750 to 1,112 mm (2.5 to 3.6 ft)
Tail length: 15 to 102 mm (0.6 to 4.0 in.)
Shoulder height: 440 to 690 mm (17.3 to 27.2 in.)
- Weight
- 14 to 50 kg (30.9 to 110.2 lbs.); depending on species
- Diet
- Seeds, roots, cacti, carrion, invertebrates, small vertebrates, berries, and fruits – depending on species
- Incubation
- 145 to 162 days, depending on species
- Sexual Maturity
- 1 to 2 years
- Life Span
- 20 to 25 years
- Range
- Southwestern United States to central Argentina
- Habitat
- Semi-arid thorn forest, steppe, desert scrub, arid woodland, rainforest, savannah, and chaco – depending on species
- Population
- Global: Unknown
- Status
- IUCN: Catagonus is classified as Endangered
CITES: Appendix I; Pecari and Tayassu are listed on Appendix II
USFWS: Not listed
Fun Facts
- Peccaries are highly social animals - often scent-marking one another as well as physical territory.
- When feeling threatened, Pecari will clash its canine teeth together as a warning.
- Pecari has been recorded sprinting up to 35 kph (22 mph).
- Pecari's sense of smell is so good that it is capable of detecting bulbs 5 to 8 cm (2 to 3 in.) below the soil's surface.
- Pecari, if wounded or threatened, may attack as entire herd. The herd can consist of up to 50 members.
- Tayassu may form herds of several hundred individuals.
Ecology and Conservation
All species are hunted for subsistence, commecial, and/or sport purposes. Two species are additionally targeted for the commercial value of their hide. Perhaps the greatest threat to peccaries, however, is the clearing and fragmentation of the habitats in which they reside.
Bibliography
Nowak, Ronald M. Walker's Mammals of the World - Volume I (Sixth Edition). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
