THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS 281 
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 173 inches in height. The collared. 
peccary averages from 134 to 154 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 ofsemi-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 2s eo 
act of rushing at him. As the herd ap- A YOUNG COLLARED PECCARY 
proached the sound was like that of a In this specimen the whize collar from qhich the species takes its name is 
whirlwind through the bushes. very clearly displayed 
