Collared and WhiteLipped Peccaries
Celena Letcher
Taxonomy
Collared
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tayassuidae
Genus: Tayassu
Species: tajacu
White-Lipped
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Tayassuidae
Genus: Tayassu
Species: pecari
Origin
 Appeared in the
Oligocene of Europe
 Descendants from
Platygonus
 Collared- Debate
about whether
originated in North or
South America
 Subspecies
Distribution
Collared
White-Lipped
Value
 Cultural
 Hunting
 Social
 Meat


$23 – Collared Peccary
$30 – White Lipped
 Pets
 Aesthetics
 Economic
 Equestrian Gloves: $100-140 /pair in
Japan
 Shoes: $345/pair in Italy
 Belts: $150
Economic ValueCollared Peccary Hunting
 Considered a “Big Game
Species”
 Hunting Season:
 Typically Spring
 $105 license fee
(residents)
 $151 license fee
(nonresidents)
 Hunting Equipment
 Conventional hunting guns
 Muzzle loaders
 Bows and arrows
 Guides
 Travel
 Lodging
Ecological Value
 Dispersers of seeds
 Aid in germination
Collared
Physical
Characteristics
• Pelage: gray/black with
white annulations
• Thinner/light hair=
summer
• Long black mane
• Not sexual dimorphic
• Smallest
• Weights:
• 14-31 kg
White-Lipped
Physical
Characteristics
• Pelage: varies greatly
• Larger scent gland
• Adults: white along
mouth and under the
jaw
• Older: short white
hair above nose
• Middle Size
• Weight
• 25-40 kg
Pigs vs. Peccaries
 Three toes on hind foot (vs. four toes)
 Ulna/Radius fused
 Scent Gland on back
 Short Tail (vs. long)
Pigs vs. Peccaries
 Small, vertical canines (vs. Large, outwardly curved
tusks), reduced grinding molars
 Complex Stomach
Pick out the Peccary!
Collared Habitat
 Home Range: 260-800 ha
 Elevations: up to 2,438 m
Collared Peccary Density
UGA College of Veterinary Medicine (1982)
White-Lipped Habitat
 Home Range: 3000 ha

Considered migratory
 Elevation: Up to 1800 meters
Part II: Ecology
Collared Peccary
Diet
 Neotropical:
Frugivores
 Grazers and
Rooters
 Underground
tubers, rhizomes,
bulbs, acorns,
green grass,
shoots, stems of
prickly pear
cactus
The Prickly Pear
 Knipe (1957) claimed it was preferred food
 25% - 75% of diet on a monthly basis
 Zervanos and Hadley (1973)
 Summer: 1.6 kg/day
 Winter: 1.9 kg/day
White-Lipped Peccary
Diet
 Primarily fruit eating
 60%
 Roots
 Seeds
 1.3 times biting force
 Vegetation of plants
 Occasional insects
Collard Daily Movements
 Crepuscular
 Bedding Sites
 Smaller groups
 Water
 Succulent Plants
 Livestock tanks/basins
 Rainy season- Standing
water, new vegetation
 Wallowing
White-Lipped Daily
Movement
 Noisy
 Moved long
distances in quest
for food
 Tree trunks,
fallen logs
 Excellent
swimmers
 Wallowing
Collared Peccary
Reproduction
 Gestation Period: 141151 days
 Litter Size: 1-5
 Weaning: 2-3 months
 Sexual Maturity:
 Females: 8-14 months
 Males: 11 months.
 Life span: avg. 4 years.
White-Lipped Peccary
Reproduction
 Gestation period: 156162 days
 Litter size: 2, sometimes
1 or 3.
 Weaning: 2-3 months
 Sexual maturity:
Between 1 and 2 years of
age.
 Life span: 13 years
Offspring
 Sex Ratio: 1:1
• Juveniles:
• Darker pelage but
lighter colored limbs
• Black becomes
predominant
through age
• Dark vertical stripe
Social Structure
Collared:
White-Lipped:
 Herd Size: 6-12 individuals,
up to 50 individuals
Herd Size: More than 40, up to
300 individuals
 Interactive upon
greetings/resting
 Nuzzling, nose to nose
greetings, scent glands
 Highly gregarious
 Maintain close contact to
the herd at all times
Linear Hierarchy: involving both sexes
males and females
• Mostly dominant males but can be
a female
• No couple / harem formation
Limiting Factors
 Parasites

Sucking Louse, Ticks/Fleas,Lice,
Mange, Swine Kidney Worm, ect. . .
 Disease


Brucellosis
Leptospirosis
 Food/Water Dispersal
 Predation




Coyotes, boa constrictors – for juveniles
Bobcat, Ocelot, Margay -weaklings
Blackbear – South Central Arizona
Mountain Lion, Jaguar
 Tooth deterioration
White Lipped Limiting
Factors
 Environmental Degradation
 Hunting Pressure
Part III:
Management
Collared
Conservation Status
 Conservation status: Least Concerned
 CITES: Not List
 IUCN Red List: Least Concerned
 Game Species
 Specially in the US: Arizona (1929), New Mexico
(1937), Texas (1939)
White-Lipped
Conservation Status
 Conservation status: Vulnerable
 CITES: Appendix II
 IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
 As of 2005, large populations persisted only in 21%
of its historic range
Indigenous Man
Limiting Factors
Central/South America:
 Depletion by Hunting
 Settlement Patterns
 Europeans
Advancements
 Slash and Burn
European Man Limiting
Factors
 Deforestation
 Livestock Competition
 Especially through
clearing forest land
for cattle
 Hide Trade
 Export legal in Peru
only
Conservation and
Management
 Pigs and Peccaries Specialist Group:
“Maintain core wild populations of not less
than 2,000 animals each taxon in each
individual reserve. . .”
 Maintaining accurate counts
 Game Survey Counts: Late Feb or early
March hunting season
 Trapped animals
 Scat analysis
 Mailing questioneers
 Cameras in peak areas
Management Through
Hunting
 Day (1976) Rest Rotation
 Sustainable harvest levels set by
annual census
 Problem:
 Determination of annual census
 Non-seasonal, unpredictable breeding
makes it difficult to set viable hunting
regulations to avoid killing pregnant
or lactating individuals
 Utilization of peaked breeding times to
avoid this
Management Through
Regulation
 Monitor and regulate the legal trade of peccary hides
and meat markets
 Control poaching
 Establish viable genetic populations in ecological
interconnected reserves i.e. corridors
Management Through
Relocation
 Common in U.S.
 Large scale relocation: Cuba in 1930, unsuccessful
because of hunting (Mayer and Wetzel 1987)
 Need a large enough size of suitable, protected habitat
 Captive Breeding:
 Currently successfully commercial breeding for meat and
hides of Collard Peccaries, no such commercial exists for
White Lipped Peccaries
Management Through
Habitat Conservation
 Need for parks and reserves of suitable size and
habitat
 White Lipped- “It is uncertain whether the existing
networks of reserves is adequate to ensure the
survival of representative populations sufficient in
size to maintain viable populations in all major habitat
types within its distribution” (Altrichter 2012)
 Reduced habitat destruction/degradation
Future
Collared Peccary is more adaptable to man-made
environmental changes, not susceptible to population
pressures – looks bright!
White-Lipped Peccary long term population viable for the
majority of current habitat is poor
 Habitat destruction
 Intense hunting pressures
 Possible epizootics
Sources

CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna).
2009. Appendix I, II, and III as adopted by the Conference of the Parties, valid from 22 May 2009.
Available online at the CITES website.

Collared Peccary Populations 1982. 1982. Photograph. The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine SE
Cooperative Wildlife Disease StudyWeb. 14 Oct 2013. <http://vet.uga.edu/scwds/rangemaps>.

Csomos, R. 2001. "Tayassu pecari" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed October 14, 2013
at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Tayassu_pecari/

Flowler, Murray. Biology, Medicine, and Surgery of South American Wild Animals. First. Iowa: Iowa
State University Press, 2001. 377-392. Print.

Haemig PD (2012) Sympatric White-lipped Peccary and Collared Peccary. ECOLOGY.INFO 10

Keuroghilan, A., Debiez, A., Reyna-Hurtado, R., Altrichter, M.m Beck, H., Taber, A. & Fragoso,
J.M.V. 2013. Tayassu pecari. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version
2013.1.www.iucnredlist.org.

Kiltie, R.A. (1981a): Bite Force as a basis for niche differentiation between rainforest peccaries
(Tayassu tajacu and T. pecari). Biotropica 14(3):188-195.
Sources

Kricher, John, and . The Neotropical Companion. Second. Princeton University Press, 1999. 305-306.
Print.

Langler, P. (1979): Adaption significance of the fore-stomach of the collared peccary, Dictoyles
tajacu (L. 1758)(Mammalia: Artiodactyla). Mammalia 43(2):235-245

Nowak, R. M. [editor]. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World (Fifth Edition). Baltimore: The
Johns Hopkins University Press.

Sowls, Lyle. The Peccaries. Tucson, Arizona : University of Arizona Press, 1984. Print.

Sowls, Lyle. Javelinas and Other Peccaries Their Biology, Management, and Use. 2nd ed. . Texas:
Texas A&M University Press College Station, 1997. Print.

"Sushi for Peccaries? ." Newswise: Wildlife Conservation Society . (2013): n. page. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.newswise.com/articles/sushi-for-peccaries>.