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Texas Peccary
- Length
- 34 inches.
- Description
- Pig-like, with short erect ears, no tail, bristly hair and a scent gland on the back. Individual hairs banded black and white, producing a mottled appearance, the face, mane of the back, throat, legs, underparts, ears and hoofs are black, while a white collar-like band reaches from the sides of the neck over the shoulders.
- Range
- Texas and south-western Arkansas. The closely related collared peccary is found in Mexico.
Peccaries are the American representatives of the pig family and take the place of the wild boars of Europe. Like many other products of the western hemisphere, they are an improvement upon their like in the Old World inasmuch as they are distinctly more advanced in development. They have a complicated stomach, somewhat like that of the ruminant mammals, and have three instead of four toes on the hind feet.
In general appearance the peccary resembles a small black pig, with a mane and slender legs, and he is said to root and wallow in a truly pig-like fashion.
The home of the Texas peccary is low river bottoms with dense thickets and overgrown swamps. Here he may be found singly or in small droves feeding on the acorns, pecans and walnuts or grubbing up roots. Spots which are particularly frequented by them usually smell strongly of the peculiar skunk-like odor which they emit.
Whatever there may be in the stories of the fierceness of the South American peccaries, our species seems to be a harmless beast, preferring to escape by flight rather than turn upon its pursuers, though its sharp teeth and well-developed tusks would make it a rather formidable enemy.