abundant in forests and savannas throughout tropical
America as far south as Argentina and ranges
northward through the Mexican deserts into the
American Southwest. Collared Peccaries form herds of
any number from three to 30 or more. Their bristly hair
is a mixture of black and gray in adults, but it is quite
brownish as juveniles. The name Collared is a reference
to a band of whitish hair that separates neck from
shoulder. The Collared Peccary’s face is unmistakably
pig- like; its snout has a hard fingernail- like rhinarium,
which acts as a trowel in rooting up vegetation. Herds
of peccaries forage, in the manner of pigs, for roots,
bulbs, and underground stems, as well as leaves and
fruits. They also eat arthropods and small vertebrates,
if they can catch them. Loose soil from their rooting
efforts is a common sight in rain forests, along with the
prints of their small cloven hooves. During dry season
they often congregate at favored watering places.
As they forage, peccaries communicate with soft
continuous grunts, but should danger threaten they
emit a loud deep Wo o f! reminiscent of a large dog’s
bark. When cornered, they erect their bristles, chatter
their teeth, and display their large canines. They put
on quite an impressive show of threat but will not
charge (usually) unless no escape is possible. Collared
Peccaries are fundamentally peaceful, highly social
animals, though they have an undeserved reputation
for aggression. Should you encounter a band of them,
give them a wide berth, and they will go about their
business, leaving you totally intact.
The larger White- lipped Peccary (Tayassu pecari;
plates 16- 30– 31), identified by the white hair around
its mouth, congregates in herds of 50 to 300 individuals
and is essentially confined to rain forest, its range
limited to the lowland forests of South America and
southern Central America. White- lipped Peccary
herds range widely in search of fruits. The species’ odor
is distinct from that of the Collared Peccary.
White- lipped Peccaries have been shown to be
capable of cracking tougher fruits and seeds than
Collared Peccaries and thus can make use of food items
unavailable to their smaller cousins. The typically large
herd size of White- lipped Peccaries may be related to
the fruit crop: some of the trees with the hardest fruits,
such as palms, drop many fruits at once, representing
a temporarily abundant but highly patchy resource.
In large herds, White- lips can find and exploit such
a resource effectively. White- lips have a narrower
rhinarium (the toughened end of the snout) thanCollared Peccaries and do not dig as deeply for roots.
They probably depend more heavily on hard fruits.
Both Collared and White- lipped Peccaries are
extensively hunted, and the White- lipped is currently
considered vulnerable by the IUCN. White- lipped
Peccaries have for many years been reputed to be
unpredictably aggressive. Charles Waterton, in his
classic volume Wanderings in South America (1825),
describes peccary aggression thusly:
There is scarcely a hunter who has not been forced
to climb into the branches of trees in order to
escape a herd of Peccaries, and even when they
have driven him into a tree, they will sit round it,
gnashing their tusks in anger. The sound of the
clashing tusks is well known to hunters, and warns
them to prepare for a charge.
While peccaries are certainly capable of self-
defense and some strong offense, modern accounts of
aggressive behavior by herds of White- lipped Peccaries
are uncommon.Neotropical Deer
Like peccaries, deer (Cervidae) are artiodactyls,
even- toed (also called cloven- hoofed) ungulates. The
familiar White- tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus;
plate 16- 32), common throughout most of North
America, also ranges throughout Central America
and well into South America. The species adapts toPlate 16- 32. White- tailed Deer range widely and are found
throughout the Neotropics, including within rain forest. Photo
by John Kricher.chapter 16 from monkeys to tarantulas: endless eccentricities 333