Fur and Feathers: Peccaries

This week brings a bit of a boring topic if you ask me, but one that must be covered nonetheless. Peccaries are essentially pigs, although apparently they are not even related to pigs in any way. They look like a type of wild hog, with big sharp tusks and a good throaty snort. They are an animal indigenous to the Amazon in and around this region of South America. They are very populous in other parts of their habitat, but in Ecuador peccaries have become endangered in recent years, and it is for that reason that we keep them at the center.

Two of our peccaries, these are the guys that always show up on our doorstep looking for food.

This is one of our Huanganas, which is basically a giant peccary.

The best way to describe a peccary is a "jungle pig", they have hooves, a big snout, and look and act just like pigs in about every way. They smell, they snort, and they're always escaping. Our peccaries have a huge cage and it seems that about 4 out of the 6 days a week there is at least one peccary that escapes. This becomes a big problem as they usually wander up to the house looking for food, and can be very dangerous. Many of our peccaries have become very accustomed to humans, and some are now even aggressive towards people. They are fast, and have huge tusks that can do some serious damage. My first week here, one of the other volunteers was bitten by a peccary, leaving him with a big whole in his foot and putting him out of work for about a week. There are some people who find the peccaries quite cute... I am not one of them, to me they're really just a nuisance that serves little purpose at the center. But they're animals in danger, so I'll care for them all the same. Until next time!