#AtoZChallenge2020: Javelina

Theme: Natural Texas

“Javelina”

I recently volunteered at the North Texas Irish Festival 2020 (in early March) at the North Texas Master Naturalists’ display, and one of the animal skins that were on display was that of a peccary. What’s a peccary, I wondered? Then, about 2 hours later, I realized I know what a peccary is, it’s a javelina. Okay, sometimes it takes me while to figure things out.

A peccary can also be known as a skunk pig, but its Latin name is Pecari tajacu. The Spanish name for a peccary is javelina, which also means wild boar (a different animal). Javelina stand about 25 inches tall and usually weigh between 35 and 55 pounds. They are 3 to 4 feet long.

Javelina have mainly short coarse salt and pepper colored hair, short legs, and a pig-like nose. The hair around the neck/shoulder area is lighter in color giving it the look of a collar. Javelina have long, sharp canine teeth which protrude from the jaws about an inch.

Javelina live in groups of usually 10 or less, but there have been larger groups spotted. They live in a variety of habitats such as desert washes, saguaro and palo verde forests, oak woodlands, and grasslands with mixed shrubs and cacti. Of course, in Texas they are mainly found in southwest desert areas. They are found in other parts of the southwest United States, and they are found all the way down to Argentina.

Javelina are mainly herbivores, eating a variety of native plant foods such as agave, mesquite beans, and prickly pear, and roots, tubers, and other green vegetation. They will also eat lizards, dead birds, and rodents if given the opportunity.

The main predators of javelina are mountain lions, humans, coyotes, bobcats, and jaguars.

Their lifespan in the wild is about 10 years and about 20 years for those in captivity.

Javelina/peccaries are different from pigs. They have small ears and their tails are not easily seen from a distance. Pigs have upright ears and long, hairy tails. Peccaries have three toes on the hind food; pigs have four. Canine teeth (tusks) in peccaries are straight, while they’re curved in pigs (like wart hogs). Another interesting difference is that pigs give birth to large litters of helpless young, while peccaries generally give birth to twins, who are up and running with the herd shortly after birth.

Sometimes javelina can be smelled before they can be seen. Members of a herd will rub cheek to hip to share this scent among the herd members. These individual scents, when combined, form a sort of herd perfume which they use to identify members of the herd. If you don’t smell like family, you’re not welcome in their territory. When they smell danger, javelina will freeze, let off that musky odor, and clack their tusks in warning. They may charge, but more likely, due to their poor eyesight, they’re simply scattering in all directions in an attempt to escape.