{{Short description|Species of mammal}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|2.5|0|Pleistocene-recent|<ref>{{cite web |title=''Dicotyles'' <br/>Cuvier 1817 |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=45680&is_real_user=1 |publisher=Fossil Works}}</ref>}} | image = Pecari tajacu - 02.jpg | image_caption = At the Zoo of Madrid, Spain | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{Cite iucn | author = Gongora, J. | author2 = Reyna-Hurtado, R. | author3 = Beck, H. | author4 = Taber, A. | author5 = Altrichter, M. | author6 = Keuroghlian, A. | name-list-style = amp | title = ''Pecari tajacu'' | volume = 2011 | article-number = e.T41777A10562361 | date = 2011 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-2.RLTS.T41777A10562361.en | access-date = 18 February 2022}} Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.</ref> | status2 = CITES_A2 | status2_system = CITES | status2_ref = <ref>{{Cite web|title=Appendices {{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}</ref>{{NoteTag|Excluding the populations of Mexico and the United States of America.}} | genus = Dicotyles | species = tajacu | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonyms = * ''Pecari tajacu''<br /> * ''Sus tajacu'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}} * ''Muknalia minima'' {{small|Stinnesbeck et al, 2017}} * ''Dicotyles tajacu''? <small>Cuvier, 1817</small> | range_map = Dicotyles tajacu range.png }}
The '''collared peccary''' ('''''Dicotyles tajacu''''') is a peccary, a species of artiodactyl (even-toed) mammal in the family Tayassuidae. It is the only extant member of the genus '''''Dicotyles'''''. They are commonly referred to as '''''javelina''', '''saíno''''', '''''taitetu''''', or '''''báquiro''''', although these terms are also used to describe other species in the family. The species is also known as the '''musk hog'''. In Trinidad, it is colloquially known as '''''quenk'''''.<ref name="auto"/>
The species is found in the tropical and subtropical Americas. In the Miocene, the first Tayassuids appeared, which would give rise to the modern collared peccary, with these species belonging to the same genus and often being larger than it.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}} It is believed that many of its ancestors initially appeared in North America, later migrating to South America and eventually giving rise to the modern Tayassu (''Tayassu tajacu'').{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}
==Description== thumb|Dentition, as illustrated in Knight's ''Sketches in Natural History'' The collared peccary stands around {{convert|20-24|in|cm|order=flip|abbr=on}} tall at the shoulder and is about {{convert|1.0|-|1.5|m|abbr=on}} long. It weighs between {{convert|16|and|27|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Exploring the Southwest Desert, USA">{{cite web|title=Collared Peccary: Javelina ~ Tayaussa ~ Musk Hog|url=http://www.desertusa.com/magnov97/nov_pap/du_collpecc.html|publisher=Digital West Media Inc.|access-date=8 January 2012}}</ref> The dental formula is: 2/3,1/1,3/3,3/3.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reid|first1=Fiona|title=Peterson Field Guide: Mammals of North America|date=2006|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-395-93596-5|page=158|edition=4th}}</ref> The collared peccary has small tusks that point toward the ground when the animal is upright. It has slender legs with a robust or stocky body. The tail is often hidden in the coarse fur of the peccary.<ref name="Houghton Mifflin Company">{{cite book|last1=Reid|first1=Fiona|title=Peterson Field Guide: Mammals of North America|date=2006|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-395-93596-5|page=488|edition=4th}}</ref> The animal has a musk gland on its back, several inches above the tail. This automatically discharges a skunklike scent when its hairs are raised in alarm, alerting other members of its herd.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Rue III |first=Leonard Lee |url=https://archive.org/details/sportsmansguidet00ruel/page/402/mode/2up |title=Sportsman's Guide to Game Animals: A Field Book of North American Species |date=1968 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York and London |pages=402–405, 408}}</ref> Peccary will also rub their scent onto rocks and tree stumps to mark their territory, and rub the scent on each other to help with identification.<ref name="desert_museum" />
Collared peccaries are diurnal creatures that live in groups of up to 50 individuals, averaging between six and nine animals. They sleep in burrows (often under bushes or larger systems of tree roots), but sometimes can be found in caves, abandoned mines, old desert tunnels, or among logs, felled trees and abandoned timber.<ref name="Houghton Mifflin Company" /> However, collared peccaries are not completely diurnal. In central Arizona, they are often more active at night, and less so in the heat of the daytime.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
== Taxonomy == Although somewhat related to true Old World pigs, and frequently referred to as a pig, this species and the other peccaries are no longer classified in the pig family, Suidae. Although formerly classified in the genus '''''Pecari''''', studies in 2020 placed them in the genus ''Dicotyles'', based on an unequivocal type-species selection; these studies have been accepted by the American Society of Mammalogists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Acosta |first1=Luis E. |last2=Garbino |first2=Guilherme S. T. |last3=Gasparini |first3=Germán M. |last4=Dutra |first4=Rodrigo Parisi |date=9 September 2020 |title=Unraveling the nomenclatural puzzle of the collared and white-lipped peccaries (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla, Tayassuidae) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=4851 |issue=1 |pages=60–80 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4851.1.2 |pmid=33056737 |s2cid=222846767}}</ref><ref>{{Cite mdd|title=''Dicotyles tajacu'' (Linnaeus, 1758)|id=1006380|access-date=2021-10-13}}</ref> Currently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) still places them in the genus ''Pecari''.<ref name="iucn" />
=== The "giant peccary" === The '''giant peccary''' (described as ''Pecari maximus'') was a purported fourth species of peccary, first reported to have been seen in Brazil in 2000 by Dutch naturalist Marc van Roosmalen. In 2003 German natural history filmmaker Lothar Frenz filmed a group and gathered a skull which later served as the type (INPA4272). It had been known locally as ''caitetú-mundè'', which Roosmalen ''et al''. state the locals claimed was Tupí and meant "the collared peccary that is bigger and goes in pairs", as opposed to ''caitetú-de-bando'', "the collared peccary that goes in herds". It was formally described in 2007,<ref name="description">Roosmalen, M.G.M.; Frenz, L.; Hooft, W.F. van; Iongh, H.H. de; Leirs, H. 2007. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40111102 ''A New Species of Living Peccary (Mammalia: Tayassuidae) from the Brazilian Amazon.''] Bonner zoologische Beiträge 55(2): 105–112.</ref> but the scientific evidence for its species status was quickly questioned,<ref name="Gongora2007">Gongora, J., Taber, A., Keuroghlian, A., Altrichter, M., Bodmer, R.E., Mayor, P., Moran, C., Damayanti, C.S., González S. (2007). ''[https://www.iucn-wpsg.org/_files/ugd/119740_0dc9019f69984c5cbac8e256cd3b1968.pdf#page=19 Re-examining the evidence for a 'new' peccary species, ''Pecari maximus'', from the Brazilian Amazon].'' Newsletter of the Pigs, Peccaries, and Hippos Specialist Group of the IUCN/SSC. 7(2): 19–26.</ref><ref>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/roosmalen-200802.html ''Trials of a Primatologist.''] {{Webarchive|url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091014093223/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/roosmalen-200802.html|date=2009-10-14}}, Smithsonianmag.com. accessed March 15, 2008</ref> which also was one of the reasons for its initial evaluation as data deficient by the IUCN in 2008.<ref name="iucnOriginal">{{cite web |last=Gongora |first=J. |year=2008 |title=''Pecari maximus'' |url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136740 |access-date=25 November 2008}}{{dead link|date=January 2024}}</ref> A review in 2011 moved the giant peccary into synonymy with the collared peccary (''P. tajacu''),<ref name="Gongora2011">Gongora, J., Biondo, C., Cooper, J.D., Taber, A., Keuroghlian, A., Altrichter, M., Ferreira do Nascimento, F., Chong, A.Y., Miyaki, C.Y., Bodmer, R., Mayor, P. and González, S. (2011). ''[http://www.zoologicalbulletin.de/BzB_Volumes/Volume_60_1/095_101_BzB60_1_Gongora_%20Jaime_et_al.pdf Revisiting the species status of ''Pecari maximus'' van Roosmalen et al., 2007 (Mammalia) from the Brazilian Amazon].'' Bonn Zoological Bulletin 60(1): 95-101.</ref> which was followed by the IUCN the same year.<ref name="iucn" />
The reported range of the giant peccary encompasses the south-central Amazon between the Madeira and the Tapajós Rivers and northern Bolivia.<ref>Moravec, J., & Böhme, W. (2009). ''[http://alt.zfmk.de/BZB/BzB_56_1_07_Moravec.pdf Second Find of the Recently Discovered Amazonian Giant Peccary, ''Pecari maximus'' (Mammalia: Tayassuidae) van Roosmalen et al., 2007: First Record from Bolivia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129030515/http://alt.zfmk.de/BZB/BzB_56_1_07_Moravec.pdf|date=2014-11-29}}.'' Bonner zoologische Beiträge 56(1-2): 49-54.</ref> It is restricted to ''terra firme'' forest, which is forest that does not flood annually. Unlike other peccaries in its range, the giant peccary was reported to mainly occur in pairs or small family groups.<ref name="description" />
According to its original description, the giant peccary is larger, longer-legged, and proportionally smaller-headed than the only other member of the genus, the collared peccary.<ref name="description" /> Compared to most individuals of the sympatric populations of the collared peccary, the giant peccary also had thinner fur that is grizzled in brown and white, blacker legs, and a relatively faint collar. Five skins of the giant peccary had a total length of {{convert|120|–|137|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}}, while local hunters have estimated a weight of {{convert|40|–|50|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. Based on a mtDNA study, the collared and the giant peccaries were estimated to have diverged 1.0–1.2 million years ago, but these results were later questioned due to the small sample size, low bootstrap support, and the absence of nDNA and cytogenetic results.<ref name="Gongora2007" /><ref name="iucn" />
In 2011, a review noted that the measurements provided in the initial description were within those generally recognized for the collared peccary, and the behaviors supposedly unique to the giant peccary are also known from the collared peccary.<ref name="Gongora2011" /> They also provided new genetic evidence showing that collared peccaries from South America form a monophyletic clade that includes the giant peccary (without it the clade is paraphyletic). The major genetic split within the collared peccary is between a clade comprising North and Central American specimens, and a clade comprising South American specimens (the presumed contact zone is in Colombia, which has both clades). Furthermore, extensive infraspecific variations (both individual and locality-based) are known in the morphology of the collared peccary.<ref name="iucn" />
== Distribution and habitat == The collared peccary is widespread throughout much of the tropical and subtropical Americas, ranging from the Southwestern United States to northern Argentina. They were reintroduced to Uruguay in 2017, after 100 years of extirpation there.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ecos.la/8/ciencia_tecnologia/2018/07/14/25081/a-un-ano-de-su-liberacion-los-pecaries-ya-se-adaptaron-y-tienen-cria/|title=A un año de su liberación, los pecaríes ya se adaptaron y tienen cría|website=ecos.la|language=es|access-date=2019-04-04|archive-date=2020-04-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422163218/https://ecos.la/8/ciencia_tecnologia/2018/07/14/25081/a-un-ano-de-su-liberacion-los-pecaries-ya-se-adaptaron-y-tienen-cria/}}</ref> The only Caribbean island where it is native, however, is Trinidad. Until fairly recently, it was also present on the nearby island of Tobago, but is now exceedingly rare (if not extirpated) due to overhunting by humans. An adaptable species, it inhabits deserts, xeric shrublands, tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, shrublands, flooded grasslands and savannas, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and several other habitats; it is also present in habitats shared by humans, merely requiring sufficient cover. Peccaries can be found in cities and agricultural land throughout their range, where they consume garden plants. Notable populations are known to exist in the suburbs of Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.<ref name="Friederici">{{cite journal |url=http://www.nationalwildlife.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?articleID=308&issueID=19 |title=Winners and Losers |first=Peter |last=Friederici |journal=National Wildlife Magazine |publisher=National Wildlife Federation |date=August–September 1998 |volume=36 |issue=5}}</ref><ref name="Sowls">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3-kkgAxxnoC |title=Javelinas and Other Peccaries: Their Biology, Management, and Use |first=Lyle K. |last=Sowls |edition=2nd |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-89096-717-1 |pages=61–68 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
=== Fossil record === Due to the lack of fossil material or even specimens from archeological sites, it was assumed that javelinas only recently crossed into the US from further south by way of Mexico, being previously excluded from the region by competition with the now-extinct flat-headed peccary (''Platygonus compressus'') and long-nosed peccary (''Mylohyus nasutus''). The first records of the species in its US range are from 18th-century Jesuit missions, and no evidence of remains is known from sites prior to 1700.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Rick |url=https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_1669.pdf |title=The Javelina in Texas |last2=Synatzske |first2=David R. |publisher=Texas Parks and Wildlife Department |year=2008}}</ref> However, in 2008, a fossil jaw of this species was discovered by paleontologist Andreas Kerner in the Peace River, DeSoto County, Florida, and subsequently described by Hulbert, Morgan & Kerner in 2009, proving that at some point in the late Pleistocene the species had already inhabited part of the Southern US and coexisted with the other two peccary species.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hulbert |first1=Richard C. |last2=Morgan |first2=Gary S. |last3=Kerner |first3=Andreas |date=January 2009 |title=Collared peccary (Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Tayassuidae, Pecari) from the late Pleistocene of Florida |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257618845 |journal=Papers on Geology, Vertebrate Paleontology, and Biostratigraphy in Honor of Michael O. Woodburne |pages=543–555 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref> The spread of javelinas throughout the Southwest may have been due to the overgrazing of native grasslands by livestock, leading to their replacement by cacti and mesquite, which are more desirable habitat for javelinas.<ref name=":0" /> The javelina is also known from fossils from Toca da Barriguda in Bahia, Brazil.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Alves-Silva |first1=Laís |last2=Cherkinsky |first2=Alexander |last3=Dantas |first3=Mário André Trindade |date=20 September 2023 |title=Late Pleistocene mammals from northeastern Brazil caves: Taxonomy, radiocarbon dating, isotopic paleoecology (δ13C), and paleoenvironment reconstruction (δ13C, δ18O) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618223001933 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=668 |pages=7–13 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2023.05.019 |access-date=6 May 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Ecology== Collared peccaries are often classified as herbivores. They normally feed on cactus, mesquite beans, fruits, berries, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, palm nuts, grasses, other green vegetation, fungi, and insects.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Tayassu_tajacu%20-%20Collared%20Peccary%20or%20Quenk.pdf|title=Tayassu tajacu (Collared Peccary or Quenk)|website=Sta.uwi.edu|access-date=9 April 2022}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pecari_tajacu/|title=Pecari tajacu (collared peccary)|first=Lisa|last=Ingmarsson|website=Animaldiversity.org|access-date=9 April 2022}}</ref> However, they will also eat eggs, snakes, fish, frogs, lizards, dead birds, and rodents if the opportunity presents itself.<ref name="desert_museum">{{cite web |title=Animal Fact Sheet: Collared Peccary or Javelina |url=https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Javelina.php |website=Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum |access-date=8 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="auto1"/> Despite all this supplementary diet, the main dietary components of this species are agaves and prickly pears.<ref name="auto1"/> In areas inhabited by humans, they also consume cultivated crops and ornamental plants, such as tulip bulbs.<ref name="Friederici"/><ref name="Sowls"/>
The collared peccary's main predators are cougars (''Puma concolor''), coyotes (''Canis latrans''), jaguars (''Panthera onca'') and possibly American crocodiles and ocelots.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ingmarsson|first=Lisa|title=Pecari tajacu (collared peccary)|url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pecari_tajacu/|access-date=2020-10-28|website=Animaldiversity.org|language=en}}</ref>
Although they usually ignore humans and tend to flee to safety, if wounded or cornered a peccary will defend itself with its tusks.<ref name=":1" /> If alarmed, a collared peccary can release its skunklike musk or give a sharp bark.<ref name="Houghton Mifflin Company" /> Amazonian peoples (including the Shipibos) sometimes raise and tame juvenile collared peccaries, if they are encountered.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
==Uses== The meat is relatively dry but can be cooked, though opinions differ about its flavor.<ref name=":1" />
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed"> File:Collared peccaries as seen by a fixed camera in Scottsdale, Arizona.webm|Video of a herd seen by a fixed camera in Arizona Reproducción en cautiverio de Dicotyles tajacu en Zoológico de Paraguaná.jpg|In Zoo Paraguaná, Venezuela. File:Running Javelina.jpg|Big Bend National Park, West Texas File:Mother javelina and baby.jpg|Mother and juvenile in Arizona File:Ogrličasti pekari u Zagrebu.jpg|Collared peccaries in Zagreb Zoo, Croatia File:Ancestral Pueblo, Roosevelt black on white javelina effigy canteen, 1250-1300 CE, Heard Museum.JPG|A Pueblo drinking vessel File:Collared Peccary lactating towards two pups.jpg|Female nursing its young in the Parque de las Leyendas </gallery>
== Explanatory notes== {{NoteFoot}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Pecari tajacu}} * [http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=246 Smithsonian Institution - North American Mammals: ''Pecari tajacu''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122075706/http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=246 |date=2016-01-22 }} * [http://siwild.si.edu/content/animal-groups/pigs/collared-peccary.htm?species=22 Smithsonian Wild: ''Pecari tajacu''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160313103245/http://azgfd.gov/w_c/urban_javelina.shtml Arizona Game and Fish Department – Living With Javelina]
{{Artiodactyla|S.}} {{Suina|S.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q741516}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Fauna of the Amazon Category:Fauna of the Pantanal Category:Fauna of the Sierra Madre Occidental Category:Fauna of the Sonoran Desert Category:Fauna of the Southwestern United States Category:Mammals described in 1758 Category:Mammals of Argentina Category:Mammals of Bolivia Category:Mammals of Brazil Category:Mammals of Colombia Category:Mammals of Ecuador Category:Mammals of French Guiana Category:Mammals of Guyana Category:Mammals of Mexico Category:Mammals of Paraguay Category:Mammals of Peru Category:Mammals of Suriname Category:Mammals of the Caribbean Category:Mammals of the United States Category:Mammals of Trinidad and Tobago Category:Mammals of Venezuela Category:Peccaries Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN <!-- Dicotyles tajacu --> Category:Ungulates of Central America