Javelina

What are javelinas?

A javelina is a collared peccary, Tayassy tajacu, native to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and South America. Grayish black, with wiry hair; large, wedged heads; and thin legs with hooves, these ungulates look like pigs but are not related to either domestic pigs or the wild pigs found in Texas. However, they do belong to the suborder Suina and from that ancestry count swine and hippopotamuses as their closest relatives.

There are three peccary species: The collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu), the most common and the smallest, distinguished by a light stripe around the neck. It is found throughout southwestern U.S. and South America. Second is the white-lipped peccary (T. pecari), for the white area around its mouth. It is larger and native to Central and South America.

The third species, the Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri), is the largest and lives only in the Chacoan region, or Gran Chaco, of South America, an area spanning parts of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. Only 3,000 are known to exist. The International Union for Conservation of Nature labels them an endangered species because of hunting and habitat loss.

Anatomy and herd life

Javelinas have extremely poor eyesight; their hearing is equivalent to ours. But they have an exceedingly strong sense of smell. Good olfaction comes in pairs with peccaries: They also have a scent gland on their backside that gives off a strong musky odor. Javelinas use it to identify family members and squadron mates. Some people say they can smell javelinas approaching.

About the size of a medium dog, even with their short legs and stocky bodies, javelinas are light on their feet and fast runners—up to 35 miles per hour. Good swimmers, they are also good broad jumpers (six feet from a standstill, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture). When threatened, they bark or grunt. Listen to javelina sounds from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

If frightened, they squeal—or, like a skunk, raise the hair on their backs to seem larger and release the disagreeable odor from their gland.

Javelinas travel in "squadrons" of at least 10 animals and up to 50. Mostly social animals with a group hierarchy, internal conflicts sometimes occur but rarely result in injuries.

Javelinas have tusks. Though small, they're sharp and can cause damage in a fight. If the community is threatened by a predator—including bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and now jaguars along the Arizona-Mexico border—the squadron will either charge en masse or scatter in all directions. 

Habitat, food, and reproduction

The collared javelinas in the U.S. are at home in dry grasslands, chaparral, and desert biomes, though more are being spotted in northern Arizona and New Mexico’s forests.

Although known to eat carrion and rodents, javelinas are mostly herbivores, and their favorite food is the sweet, red fruit of the prickly pear cactus. It is common to see javelinas huddled under cacti with their faces red from eating the juicy ripe fruit. Mesquite beans, agave, roots, and greens are also on their menu.

Javelinas try to avoid humans, but they can be riled and threatened by dogs and do attack—mostly when the squadron includes newborn javelinas, called "reds" for their color as infants.

There are normally two litters a year and two babies per litter. Javelinas breed yearlong, and their young grow up fast: "Reds" can run within a few hours of birth; they are weaned by eight months; and they are sexually mature in under 10 months.

Interactions with humans 

Javelinas are game animals in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and can be killed during official hunting seasons and with appropriate hunting licenses. They are hunted for sport and food.

Javelinas have joined the ranks of deer, skunks, raccoons, and coyotes: They aren't living on the edge of our urban communities anymore, but solidly in them. Especially in Tucson, where javelinas are a common sight and topic on social media. Sightings are increasing in Phoenix and Sedona in Arizona, Las Cruces in New Mexico, and Corpus Christi, Odessa, and Midland in Texas.

Unless provoked or startled, javelinas keep to themselves. But dogs are threats, so wariness and a leash are advised. Javelinas are out in the early mornings and at night and are infamous for tearing up landscaping: They are avid diggers for grubs, worms, bulbs, and bugs. They also knock planters to the ground to dig into them, and they raid front porches in the fall for pumpkins.