THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS 



317 



THE PECCARIES 



Peculiar to the American Continent, the PECCARIES differ considerably from the wild swine 

 of the Old World. They are of small size ; the dentition is not the same, the stomach is 

 more complicated in structure, and the hind feet have three instead of four toes. In general 

 appearance peccaries are not unlike small dark-coloured pigs, well covered with bristles, and 

 having, as well as a prominent mane, a deep fringe of hair beneath the throat. They are 

 essentially forest-loving animals, roaming over large tracts of country and making considerable 

 migrations in search of food. Two species have been distinctly identified by naturalists the 

 COLLARED PECCARY, and the WHITE-LIPPED PECCARY. Of these, the former species is found from 

 Texas, in North America, as far south as the Rio Negro, in Patagonia. The habitat of the 

 white-lipped peccary is more circumscribed, and the animal is seldom found except in that 

 part of South and Central America lying between British Honduras and Paraguay. No 

 members of the Pig Family are fiercer or more tenacious of their sanctuaries than the white- 

 lipped peccary, which roams the dense forests of Brazil and Paraguay in large herds. A 

 human being, attacked and surrounded by a herd of these savage little creatures, would indeed 

 stand but a poor chance of his life, and many a hunter and traveler has been compelled to 

 seek refuge in a tree and sustain some hours of siege. Of the two species, the white-lipped 

 peccary is somewhat the larger, standing from 15 to 17^ inches in height. The collared 

 peccary averages from 13^ to 15.} inches. The flesh of these wild swine is not in much 

 repute, and unless the back-gland is at once cut out a freshly killed specimen will become 

 quickly spoiled as a human food-supply. Young peccaries appear to be easily tamed, fierce 

 as is their nature in the wild state. In contrast with the abundant litters of other pigs, wild 

 and domesticated, only one offspring is ordinarily produced at birth. In fighting, the peccary 

 does not rip like the wild boar, but inflicts savage and severe bites. 



" Untrained dogs," says President Roosevelt, " even those of a large size, will speedily 

 be killed by a single peccary, and if they venture to attack a herd will be literally torn 

 into shreds. A big trained dog, however, can, single-handed, kill a peccary, and I have 

 known the feat performed several times." 



Azara, the eminent Spanish naturalist of the end of the eighteenth century, had 

 considerable experience of the peccaries of Central and Southern America, where the Indians 

 are much addicted to taming wild animals, and keep both the peccary and the tapir in 

 a state of semi-domestication. The peccary 

 he found to be domesticated more easily 

 than might be expected. Though so fierce 

 in its wild state, it soon becomes trouble- 

 some from its familiarity. 



Mr. Schomburgk, the explorer of Cen- 

 tral America, whose travels were so con- 

 stantly quoted during the Venezuelan 

 arbitration, saw much of the white-lipped 

 species in the forests. He found the animals 

 in large troops under the leadership of an 

 old boar. When attacked, they were ready 

 to surround man, dog, or jaguar; and if 

 there were no means of escape, the enemy 

 was certain to be cut to pieces. He him- 

 self had a narrow escape from an infuriated 

 herd, the leader of which he shot in the 

 act of rushing at him. As the herd ap- 

 proached the sound was like that of a 

 whirlwind through the bushes. 



3fl{: 



JfeESfiSISgiy 5s^2:^&. 



fneto by Scholastic Phttt. t-'c. 



A YOUNG COLLARED PECCARY 



In this specimen the white collar from -which the sf tries takes its name is 

 very clearly displayed 



