Part III: Conservation and Management286
over large spatial scales and take into consideration the spatio-
temporal dynamics of these species. Such management would
not just benefit peccaries and pigs and the people that depend
on them, but also many other threatened wildlife species and
ecosystem processes. Recent studies (Azevedo & Conforti 2008;
Keuroghlian & Eaton 2009; Biondo et al. 2011; Jorge et al. 2013;
Galetti et al. 2015b; Keuroghlian et al. 2015) have shown that
white-lipped peccaries (1) are indicators of relatively pristine
landscapes with intact vegetation cover, (2) have high levels of
dispersal and gene flow in pristine habitats, (3) require a diver-
sity of habitat types and other resources, and (4) are prone to
local extinction, even in moderately fragmented landscapes.
These traits can help us with future efforts to delineate protected
core areas and wildlife corridors in other biomes and throughout
their range. This will not only benefit other highly mobile spe-
cies, like jaguars, but will benefit overall biodiversity. The species’
susceptibility to over-hunting and to the speed of local extinc-
tions of apparently healthy populations of peccaries in large con-
servation units is now well documented throughout its range
(Fragoso 1994; Azevedo & Conforti 2008; Reyna-Hurtado et al.
2010; Altrichter et al. 2012; Jorge et al. 2013; Keuroghlian
et al. 2013; Richard-Hansen et al. 2014). Numerous studiesthat generates so much armchair support for conservation
(Meijaard & Sheil 2008). Nevertheless, despite this general lack
of support for the conservation of these species, they are argua-
bly among the most important species to protect. This is because
of their role as cultural keystone species, and their impact on
ecosystem biodiversity through their numerous ecological roles
(Wilkie & Godoy 1996; Garibaldi &Turner 2004; Altrichter 2005;
Sunderlin et al. 2007; Keuroghlian & Eaton 2009; Beck et al. 2010;
Meijaard et al. 2011). Peccaries and pigs have very high value for
a large number of forest-dwelling people. An estimated 1.1–1.7
billion people live in the world’s forests and forest fringes (Chao
2012) and these people are generally poor (Sunderlin et al. 2007,
2008). Many of these areas in Asia, Africa, and the Americas thus
harbour both large numbers of people and one of the most reli-
able sources of animal protein: pigs and peccaries. Many people
would therefore benefit from the sustainable management and
conservation of healthy populations of pigs and peccaries, and
potentially suffer significantly if populations were to go extinct.
This in itself is a major justification for the conservation of these
species, and if approached in the right way, could find significant
support from local communities. How to best do this requires
further research and piloted conservation strategies. Would it
be possible to implement sustainable harvesting strategies with
no-take zones being protected by the same communities that
benefit from bushmeat harvest? How large would these popula-
tions have to be? And how can we keep them connected? Along
with conservation of habitats and species, genetic diversity
within species has also been identified as a crucial element. This
requires an understanding of the genetics of the species at dif-
ferent levels including the genetic diversity among populations.
Most of the population genetic and genome-wide studies have
been focused on domestic pigs, feral pigs, and wild boar (e.g.
Fan et al. 2005; Larson et al. 2005; Wu et al. 2007; Groenen et al.
2012; Burgos-Paz et al. 2013; Frantz et al. 2013; Goedbloed
et al. 2013; Manunza et al. 2013; Yang et al. 2014) and a very few in
other wild suids and tayassuids (Muwanika et al. 2003; Gongora
et al. 2006; Biondo et al. 2011). A particular area of interest in the
understanding of the genetics of wild populations is increased
understanding of the genetic diversity of the immune system, as
this provides valuable information to better understand the evo-
lutionary potential of species to fight parasites and pathogens.
This type of genetic resource is a basis for better understanding
of the immune response to disease in wild populations and a bet-
ter base of information for conservation efforts.
There is very limited understanding of what constitutes a
viable peccary or pig population under different hunting pres-
sures. Continued efforts from the peccary and pig conservation
and research communities are starting to answer some of these
questions of landscape-level management of these ungulates,
their dispersal, and sink–source dynamics of populations. For
example, genetic studies of white-lipped peccary populations
provided the first evidence of significant gene flow between
widely dispersed populations up to 80 km apart (Biondo et al.
2011). These data clearly indicate that these two populations
effectively comprise a larger metapopulation, with gene flow
occurring between them (Biondo et al. 2011). Such insights
suggest that peccary and pig populations need to be managedFigure 26.7 Bearded pig hunted in Borneo by nomadic aboriginal people,
the Penans (photo by David Hiser). (A black and white version of this figure will
appear in some formats. For the colour version, please refer to the plate section.).02812:52:18