White-Lipped Peccary

 

(Tayassu Pecari)

Belizean Creole: Waree

 

White-lipped peccaries are the larger of the two species of peccaries found in Belize. Though they resemble pigs, they are distant relatives, and are in their own Family called Tayassuidae. White-lipped peccaries are social animals that forage in large groups of up to 300 individuals. They can be found in a wide range of habitats and can spend more than half of their day feeding and travelling. 

Peccaries have a scent gland on their rump that produces a pungent smell upon physical contact with each other. Each herd has a specific scent therefore, members of the herd are able to identify each other through smell. Apart from touch and smell, peccaries also use sound to communicate with each other. Their sounds are characterised as sharp or deep barks, low growls or moans and raspy bleats. 

 White-lipped peccaries will aggressively defend their herds from predators. When alarmed, peccaries will also clatter their sharp tusks together as a challenge to the source of the threat. They have been known to chase down threats, and should never be approached in the wild.

Peccaries are awesome gardeners. Since they travel long distances, they transport sticky and thorny seeds that attach to their fur then fall off onto the soil and grow into a new plant. They are also an important prey for jaguars in Belize.

Fun Facts

• When eating, peccaries spit out the larger seeds from fruits.
• Peccaries are considered ecosystem engineers because they are able to modify their habitat through trampling, rooting, digging,resting and wallowing. These modifications create microhabitats for other organisms to benefit from. 
• When excited, the hair on the peccarie’s upper back can erect to form a crest; this gives an illusion that the peccary is larger in size.

Belize Zoo Trivia

• he Belize Zoo is home to “Big Mama” one of the four white-lipped peccaries in our care.
• The peccaries at the Zoo love doing their own “landscaping.” They quickly mow down and uproot vegetation in their habitats looking for snacks. The soil they churn up with their habits is very fertile and nutrient rich

Conservation Efforts

Once found throughout the forests of Central America in the hundreds, this heavily hunted species is now listed as Vulnerable, and has seen a dramatic decline in population. In Belize, peccaries are a game species. To ensure their survival through reproduction, hunting season is closed from June to November-meaning that it is illegal to hunt for peccaries during this period.

In 2020, the first herd of white-lipped peccaries was documented in the Maya Forest Corridor in almost 10 years! They were seen roaming the private protected areas managed by The Belize Zoo.