Texas Peeeaiy 



Straight or curved, but never branched, and are not 

 shed annually. Teeth as in the deer, but the canines 

 are entirely lacking. 



PECCARIES 



Family Dicotylida 

 Texas Peccary 



Tayassii angu latum (Cope) 



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 improve- 

 ment upon their like in the Old World inasmuch as they are 

 distinctly more advanced in development. They have a compli- 

 cated 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 wal- 

 nuts or grubbing up roots. Spots which are particularly fre- 

 quented by them usually smell strongly of the peculiar skunk-like 

 odor which they emit. 



Whatever there may be in the stories of the fierceness o, 

 the South American peccaries, our species seems to be a harmless 



3<' 



