Collared Peccary (Pecari tajacu)
These little piggies… are not quite piggies, actually.
While the Collared Peccary or Javelina closely resembles European pigs, the two species belong to completely separate families. The New World Peccaries diverged from Old World Pigs long ago, developing similar strategies and anatomy on distant, separate continents.
Collared Peccaries live in family groups of up to 30 members, foraging primarily after dark in the summer, but switching to a diurnal lifestyle in the winter. They take life slow for the most part, resting in territorial mud wallows, sleeping in burrows, and eating just about everything from seeds and pods to grubs and bird eggs.
In the desert southwest where water is scarce, however, Collared Peccaries fill up on juicy, but well-defended fare. They barely wince at the spines of prickly pear cactus, shredding the cactus pads with their teeth and slurping up the flesh and moisture.
photograph by wplynn on Flickr CC