Ecology, Conservation and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries

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

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multiannual study periods and probably spatial scales larger than
those already studied. For example, indigenous communities in
Bolivia report this species present and absent in approximately
10-year cycles (Vickers 1991). In other areas white-lipped pec-
caries abandon established home ranges and travel further, as
in Corcovado National Park, where occasionally groups leave
the park and enter into the villages (Altrichter & Almeida 2002,
2009). Similarly, a radio-tracked herd in Calakmul moved out
of its range for five months and later returned into the previous
year home range (Reyna-Hurtado et al. 2009). Local large-scale
extinctions of white-lipped peccary in pristine areas occurred in
Brazil (Keuroghlian et al. 2012) and inside Manu National Park,
Peru in 1970 and 2012 and it took approximately 10 years for the
populations to recover. Richard-Hansen et al. (2014) provided
evidence of a population crash in French Guiana between 2000
and 2010. These extinction events occurred several times during

the past decades. It is unknown what causes some of these extinc-

tion events, but a likely cause could be infectious diseases that

may quickly spread over a large geographical scale (Fragoso 2004;

Fang et al. 2008; Richard-Hansen et al. 2014). However, to date we

have no data to test this notion.

Activity Patterns

The white-lipped peccary is primarily diurnal, being most active

early in the mornings and late afternoon (Mayer & Wetzel 1987;

Sowls 1997). In Panama, white-lipped peccary also displayed

nocturnal activity patterns (Mendez 1970). In Honduras, the

species was primarily crepuscular, but it switched to a more

nocturnal behaviour during full moon nights (Idiaquez 1978).

Activity patterns may be also altered with the presence of inva-

sive species such as feral pigs (Galetti et al. 2015a).

Figure 25.3 Group of white-lipped

peccary drinking at a water hole in

Calakmul, Mexico (photo by Rafael

Reyna).

Figure 25.4 Large group of

white-lipped peccary along the

Rio Negro riverbank of the southern

Pantanal, Brazil (photo by Lucas

Leuzinger). (A black and white version of

this figure will appear in some formats.

For the colour version, please refer to the

plate section.)

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