Umbilical pigs
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Collared peccary |
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| Tayassuidae | ||||||||||||
| Palmer , 1897 | ||||||||||||
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The Peccaries , New World pigs or Pekaris (Tayassuidae) form an the Real or Old World pigs closely related family of cloven-hoofed animals . The name Pekari comes from the language of the Brazilian Tupi Indians and means something like "animal that makes many paths through the forest".
features
Outwardly, peccaries resemble old-world pigs. They take the name umbilical pigs after a skin invagination with a large gland hidden by hair in the back third of the back, from which a musky secretion can be squirted. Whitebeard peccaries in particular spread a strong odor. While the gross body shape and the texture of the trunk are clearly pig-like, peccaries have a large number of characteristics that set them apart as a family: They have slender, long legs; the short tail contains six to nine (instead of 20-23) vertebrae ; the middle toes are fused together as in ruminants ; the canine teeth are shorter and do not protrude from the mouth like tusks , but are very well designed to be dagger-like weapons. Because of their power, they can even be dangerous to their natural enemies, jaguars and puma . Whitebeard peccaries occur in packs of up to 300 animals, collar peccaries at most 20 animals.
distribution
Peccaries live mainly in South and Central America ; the southwest of the USA is also part of their range. They were once completely separate from the real pigs; in the meantime, however, wild boars and feral domestic pigs have been released in North America and make the umbilical pigs contestable for their habitat. The peccaries are fed by bulbs, grasses, seeds, small animals, eggs and fruits. Wild peccaries sometimes also rummage through agricultural fields.
Systematics
Today the three peccary species are mostly divided into three genera:
- Weißbartpekari ( Tayassu pecari , also Bisampekari)
- Collared pekari ( Pecari tajacu )
- Chaco peccary ( Catagonus wagneri )
Whitebeard and Collared Peccaries are sometimes both assigned to the common genus Tayassu .
In June 2004 a fourth species of peccary, the giant peccary, was discovered by the Dutch biologist Marc van Roosmalen on the Rio Aripuanã in Brazil . At 1.34 m in length and 40 kg in weight, it is the largest of all umbilical pigs. In 2007 it was scientifically described and given the name Pecari maximus .
Although umbilical pigs are now an all-American family, fossil evidence suggests that they originated in Europe during the Oligocene . In the Miocene they reached Asia, Africa and North America. Only in North America did they survive the Pliocene ; They only reached South America when the Panama land bridge was built about 3 million years ago .
use
The peccary leather is particularly known for commercial use . This is considered to be extremely supple, durable and warming. For example, it is used to make high quality leather gloves. Peccary meat is considered particularly tasty and is traditionally consumed by many indigenous peoples and settlers living in the Amazon region .
swell
- ↑ M. Van Roosmalen et al .: A New Species of Living Peccary (Mammalia: Tayassuidae) from the Brazilian Amazon , Bonner zoological contributions, Volume 55 (2006) Issue 2, pages 105-112. PDF ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
