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PECCARY

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 32 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PECCARY , the name of the New See also:

World representatives of the See also:swine (Suidae) of the E. hemisphere, of which they constitute the sub-See also:family Dicotylinae (or Tagassuinae). (See See also:ARTIODACTYLA and SwnNE.) The See also:teeth of the peccaries differ from those of the typical Old World pigs (See also:Sus), numerically, in wanting the upper See also:outer incisor and the anterior premolar on each See also:side of each See also:jaw, the dental See also:formula being: i. 3i c. }, p. , m. -, See also:total 38. From those of all Old World swine or Suinae, the upper canines, or tusks, differ in having their points directed downwards, not outwards or The Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu). upwards; these being very See also:sharp, with cutting hinder edges, and completely covered with See also:enamel until worn. The See also:lower canines are large and directed upwards and outwards, and slightly curved backwards. The cheek-teeth See also:form a continuous See also:series, gradually increasing in See also:size from the first to the last: the molars having square four-cusped crowns. The See also:stomach is much more complex than in the true pigs, almost approaching that of a ruminant. In the feet the two See also:middle (third and See also:fourth) metacarpal and metatarsal bones, which are completely See also:separate in the pigs, are See also:united at their upper ends.

On the fore-See also:

foot the two (second and fifth) outer toes are equally See also:developed as in pigs, but on the See also:hind-foot, although the inner (or second) is See also:present, the outer or fifth toe is entirely wanting. As in all Suidae the snout is truncated, and the nostrils are situated in its See also:flat, See also:expanded, disk-like termination. The ears are rather small, ovate and erect; and there is no See also:external See also:appearance of a tail. Peccaries,which range fromNewMexico andTexas to See also:Patagonia, are represented by two See also:main types, of which the first is the collared peccary, Dicotyles (or Tagassu) tajacu, which has an extensive range in See also:South See also:America. Generally it is found singly or in pairs, or at most in small herds of from eight to ten, and is not inclined to attack other animals or human beings. Its See also:colour is dark See also:grey, with a See also:white or whitish See also:band passing across the See also:chest from See also:shoulder to shoulder. The length of the See also:head and See also:body is about 36 in. The second form is typified by the white-lipped peccary or warri, D. (or T.) labiatus, or pecari, representing the sub-genus Olidosus. Typically it is rather larger than the collared See also:species, being about 40 in. in length, of a blackish colour, with the lips and lower jaw white. It isnot found farther See also:north than See also:Guatemala, or south of See also:Paraguay. Generally met with in large droves of from fifty to a See also:hundred, it is of a more pugnacious disposition than the former species, and a See also:hunter who encounters a See also:herd in a See also:forest has often to climb a See also:tree as his only See also:chance of safety.

Peccaries are omnivorous, living on roots, fallen fruits, See also:

worms and carrion, and often inflict See also:great devastation upon crops. Both types are so nearly allied that they will breed together freely in captivity. Unlike pigs, they never appear to produce more than two See also:young ones at a See also:birth. Remains of See also:extinct peccaries referable to the See also:modern genus occur in the caverns and superficial deposits of South America, but not in the earlier formations. This, coupled with the occurrence of earlier types in North America, indicates that the See also:group is a See also:northern one. Of the extinct North See also:American peccaries, the typical Dicotyles occur in the See also:Pliocene while the See also:Miocene Bothriolabis; which has tusks of the peccary type, approximates in the structure of its cheek-teeth to the See also:European Miocene genus among the Suinae. From this it may be inferred that the ancestral peccaries entered America in the Upper Oligocene. Platygonus is an aberrant type which died out in the See also:Pleistocene. (R.

End of Article: PECCARY

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PEAT (possibly connected with Med. Lat. petia, peci... 		[next]
PECHLIN, KARL FREDRIK (1720-1796)

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