Пекари: описание, распространение и особенности вида.

Family of mammals belonging to even toed ungulates

A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a pig like ungulate of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. They usually measure between in length, and a full grown adult usually weighs about They represent the closest relatives of the family Suidae, which contains pigs and relatives. Together Tayassuidae and Suidae are grouped in the suborder Suina within the order Artiodactyla (even toed ungulates). Peccaries are social creatures that live in herds. They are omnivores and eat roots, grubs, and a variety of other foods. They can identify each other by their strong odors. A group of peccaries that travel and live together is called a squadron. A squadron of peccaries averages between six and nine members. Peccaries first appeared in North America during the Miocene and migrated into South America during the Pliocene–Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange. They are often confused with feral domestic pigs, commonly known as "razorback" hogs in many parts of the United States, when the two occur in the wild in similar ranges. The Maya kept herds of peccaries, using them in rituals and for food. They are kept as pets in many countries in addition to being raised on farms as a source of food.

The word peccary is derived from the Carib word pakira or paquira. In Portuguese, a peccary is called pecari, porco do mato, queixada, tajaçu, among other names like Cateto or Caititu. In Spanish, it is called javelina, jabalí (a word also used to describe wild boar), sajino, or pecarí. The word javelina derives from the Spanish word for "wild boar". In French Guiana and Suriname, the animal is called pakira. The scientific name Tayassuidae derives from the same source as the Portuguese tajaçu.

A peccary is a medium sized animal, with a strong resemblance to a pig. Like a pig, it has a snout ending in a cartilaginous disc and eyes that are small relative to its head. Also like a pig, it uses only the middle two digits for walking, although, unlike pigs, the other toes may be altogether absent. Its stomach is not ruminating. Though it has three chambers, it is more complex than those of pigs. Peccaries are foregut fermenters (pigs are hindgut fermenters). This foregut fermentation, similar to but separately evolved from a ruminant, is an example of convergent evolution. Peccaries are omnivores and will eat insects, grubs, and occasionally small animals, although their preferred foods consist of roots, grasses, seeds, fruit, Pigs and peccaries can be differentiated by a number of characteristic, including tails and ear shape. The ears of pigs are large and upright and often pointed while the ears of peccaries are small and rounded. Pigs also have tasseled tails, but peccaries' tails are small and discreet. The most noticeable difference between pigs and peccaries is the shape of the canine teeth, or tusks. In European pigs, the tusks are long and curve around on themselves, whereas in peccaries, the tusks are short and straight and interlock with each other, prohibiting side to side movement of the jaw. The jaws and tusks of peccaries are adapted for crushing hard seeds and slicing into plant roots, Peccaries rely on their social structure to defend territory, protect against predators, regulate temperature, and interact with other members of the species. Peccaries have scent glands below each eye and another on their backs, though these are believed to be rudimentary in P. maximus. They use the scent to mark herd territories, which range from They also mark other herd members with these scent glands by rubbing one against another. The pungent odor allows peccaries to recognize other members of their herd, despite their myopic vision. The odor is strong enough to be detected by humans, which earns the peccary the nickname of "skunk pig".

Although some taxa from the Old World like the European Miocene Taucanamo have been suggested to be members of Tayussidae, their assignation to the group is equivocal, with a 2017 phylogenetic analysis recovering Taucanamo outside the clade containing suids and peccaries. The oldest unambiguous fossils of peccaries are from the Early Miocene of North America, with the North American Eocene Oligocene genus Perchoerus, also often considered an early peccary, recovered outside the clade containing peccaries and suids. Although common in South America today, peccaries did not reach there until about three million years ago during the Great American Interchange, when the Isthmus of Panama formed, connecting North America and South America. At that time, many North American animals—including peccaries, llamas and tapirs—entered South America, while some South American species, such as the ground sloths and opossums, migrated north. Several species of peccary across the genera Platygonus and Mylohyus remained in North America until their extinction following the colonization of the continent by humans via Beringia at the end of the Pleistocene. Today, 2 of the 3 species are relegated to the Neotropical realm, but the collared peccary ranges into northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

Peccaries bear a familial resemblance to true pigs due to their common ancestry, and are in the same suborder as swine (Suina). They have been present in South America since prehistoric times. The earliest scientific description of peccaries in the New World is in Brazil in 1547 and referred to them as "wild pigs". It has been documented that peccaries were tamed, penned, and raised for food and ritual purposes in the Yucatán, Panama, the southern Caribbean, and Colombia at the time of the Conquest. Archaeological remains of peccaries have been found in Mesoamerica from the Preclassic (or Formative) period up until immediately before Spanish contact. Specifically, peccary remains have been found at Early Formative Olmec civilization sites. The peccary is not readily suitable for modern captive breeding, lacking suitable characteristics for intensive or semi intensive systems. Peccaries require a higher age before they are able to give birth (parturition) and have a tendency towards infanticide.

Recently established Brazilian boar populations are not to be confused with long established populations of feral domestic pigs, which have existed mainly in the Pantanal for more than 100 years, along with native peccaries. The demographic dynamics of the interaction between feral pig populations and those of the two native species of peccaries (collared peccary and white lipped peccary) is obscure and is still being studied. The existence of feral pigs could somewhat ease jaguar predation on peccary populations, as jaguars show a preference for hunting pigs when they are available.