Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

Chapter 25: White-lipped peccary Tayassu pecari (Link, 1795)

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Figure 25.1 White-lipped peccary distribution (source: IUCN 2013, Red List of Threatened Species). (A simplified black and white version of this figure will appear in some
formats. For the colour version, please refer to the plate section.)

The dental formula is: I 2/3, C 1/1, P 3/3, M 3/3 (×2) = 38. The

open-rooted upper canines, up to 40 cm long, point downwards

and can interlock with the lower canines. This unique adapta-

tion evolved to stabilize the mandibular articulation and allows

a more powerful mastication of prey items such as hard plant

seeds (Kiltie 1981; Mayer & Wetzel 1987; Sowls 1997). The inter-

locking canines also maintain some of the sharpest edges and

crowns found among Neotropical mammals, which makes them

very effective weapons (Figure 25.2). Premolars and molars are

brachyodont with bunodont crown, reflecting their omnivo-

rous trophic level. Ageing white-lipped peccaries according to

tooth eruption and tooth wear is possible, and an important tool

for determining age structure distribution of wild populations

(Bodmer et al. 1997; Maffei 2003; Keuroghlian & Desbiez 2010).

Habitat

The white-lipped peccary ranges from Mexico to Argentina

and over 60 per cent of its distribution is within humid tropical

forests, although it can also be found in cloud forest, tropical

moist forest, seasonally flooded palm savanna, wet and dry

grasslands, mangroves, tropical dry forest, and dry thorn-forest

Table 25.1 Body measurements from free-ranging, adult (animal with

a fully erupted third molar) white-lipped peccary (Ta yassu p e ca r i), in the

Brazilian southern Pantanal (Keuroghlian, unpublished data).

Body measurements (n = 300) Mean (in cm) SD

Head body 112.7 7.0

Hind foot 21.5 1.0

Shoulder 55.6 3.5

Neck 53.1 4.8

Ear 7.5 0.8

Tail 3.1 0.8

Gland 21.6 3.2

Weight 31.7 4.6

black, whereas the ventrum, medial part of legs, the throat, and
distal rostrum are white–cream collared, hence: ‘white-lipped
peccary’. The pelage is bristly and both genders have a mane and
long rigid hairs along their entire mid-dorsal section. When in
distress or during aggressive behaviour individuals can raise the
mane (Mayer & Wetzel 1987; Sowls 1997).

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