JAVELINA


        
                                                                               Javelina-Photos by Jerry Schudda

     
                                                                                   Photos by Jerry Schudda

Collared Peccary or Javelina is the only wild, native, pig-like animal found in the United States. They are called Javelina because of their razor-sharp tusks, Spanish for javelin or spear.

 Peccaries have large heads and long snouts with thick coats of dark-gray, bristly hair and band of white hair (collar) around the neck. A mane of long, stiff hairs runs down the back from head to rump, where scent gland is located.  You may smell a peccary before you see it.  Collared Peccary have poor eyesight and good hearing.  This species is vocal; several calls have been classified into three categories: aggressive, submissive, and alert.
 
The young are reddish to yellow-brown in color. In adults there is a mane that extends down the crown of the head to the rump, which is most obvious when the Peccary is excited.

Peccaries are more slender and 30-50 pounds smaller than pigs, have longer, thinner legs and smaller hooves. Peccaries have only 3 toes on each hind foot (instead of 4), and the upper tusks (1.5 inches long) are pointed down, (rather than curled as with some other feral wild pigs).


Peccaries usually travel in a band from 6 to 12 although as many as 50 have been seen together. They are most active during early morning and evening when it is cooler. Members eat, sleep, and forage together. The exceptions are the old and infirm, who prefer to die in solitude. Herds have a characteristic linear dominance hierarchy, wherein a male is always dominant and the remainder of the order is largely determined by size.
In the southern United States, herds occur in Saguaro deserts, where they prefer mesquite habitats with an abundance of prickly pear cacti.They also occur in semi-desert canyons, cliffs and watering holes near cacti, chaparral and oak .
Collared Peccaries are primarily herbivorous, and have complex stomachs for digesting coarsely-chewed food. In the northern range, Collared Peccaries eat more herbivorous foods, such as roots, bulbs, beans, nuts, berries, grass and cacti. Despite all this supplementary diet, the main dietary components of this species are agaves and prickly pears. The prickly pear is ideal food for the Collared Peccary due to its high water content. 



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