Tayassu pecari (Link, 1795)

Voss, Robert S. & Fleck, David W., 2017, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 2: Xenarthra, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, And Sirenia, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2017 (417), pp. 1-1 : 1-

Tayassu pecari (Link, 1795)

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 5): Boca Río Yaquerana (FMNH 88795–88798), Nuevo San Juan (MUSM 11184).

OTHER INTERFLUVIAL RECORDS: Choncó ( Amanzo, 2006), Río Yavarí (Salovaara et al., 2003), Río Yavarí-Mirím (Salovaara et al., 2003), San Pedro (Valqui, 1999), Tapiche ( Jorge and Velazco, 2006), Wiswincho ( Escobedo-Torres, 2015).

IDENTIFICATION: Specimens of Tayassu pecari collected in the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve agree in all qualitative respects with near-topotypical material described by Husson (1978), and measurements of our material ( table 18 ) overlap broadly with Husson’s (1978: tables 56, 57). As usual, the current subspecific classification ( Grubb, 2005) is difficult to reconcile with the results of analyzing mtDNA sequence data (Ruiz- García et al., 2015).

ETHNOBIOLOGY: The Matses term for the white-lipped peccary is şhëktenamë, analyzable as meaning “large collared peccary.” As with the term şhëkten, the term şhëktenamë is not found in other languages. The archaic term for the white-lipped peccary, chede, is monomorphemic and found in some other Mayoruna languages. In the language used in the Matses’ komok ceremony, the white-lipped peccary is called pashankid, a term whose meaning seems to contain the nominalizing suffix -kid, but the meaning of pashan is not clear.

As with the collared peccary, two varieties are recognized, şhëktenamë çhëşhë (“black” or “dark-colored” white-lipped peccary) and şhëktenamë uşhu (“white” or “light-colored” white-lipped peccary). The dark variety is said to be larger and has a very white jaw, while the lighter variety is said to have a grayish, less contrastingly colored jaw. An additional name is panchu, which uniquely designates the leader of a white-lipped peccary herd. 15

White-lipped peccaries are a primary game species for the Matses. The Matses find them while hunting in the forest by smell, or when dogs pick up their scent, or when they are heard grunting or crunching palm nuts. Hunters also find their tracks, or see muddied water flowing downstream from where a herd has foraged in the streambed. White-lipped peccaries are sometimes encountered by canoe travellers, who find herds crossing rivers, see their tracks on the bank where they have crossed, or smell or hear them eating in the forest near the banks. Unless he encounters white-lipped peccaries far from the village, a hunter is expected to refrain from killing them and to return to the village to recruit other men to come and hunt them collectively. If the herd is found at the end of the day, the hunt will begin at dawn the following day.

Matses hunters usually kill white-lipped peccaries with shotguns or arrows. Since there are seldom enough shotguns to arm all the men in a village, bows and arrows are still used in these collective hunts. Also, because there is often a shortage of ammunition, spears are

often made on the spot from the trunks of sinnad palms ( Bactris spp. [ Arecaceae ]), oninan siante ( Iriartella stenocarpa [ Arecaceae ]), or from the petioles of the stemless budëd uşhu ( Attalea microcarpa [ Arecaceae ]). If it is a very large herd, the peccaries may not run off when hunters start to kill them, defending themselves by trying to bite the hunters. In such cases the Matses can easily kill many individuals, although hunters may have to climb trees if they are attacked. If the peccaries run off, as is most frequently the case, the hunters will chase after them. Because white-lipped peccaries do not run quickly and can be headed off, they are easily killed, and one can even get right next to them while running and kill them with a spear or club. When the leader of the herd is killed, the peccaries run aimlessly, often circling back toward the hunters. When clubbed on the head, right where its ears are, the peccary dies immediately.

Dogs are also used to hunt white-lipped peccaries. Dogs can help tire out the peccaries, giving the hunters a chance to catch up, if the herd had a good head start. Additionally, a white-lipped peccary that is chased by a dog may stop, turn to face the dog, and try to bite it. If the hunter can catch up in time, he kills the peccary. However, dogs are often bitten during such hunts.

White-lipped peccaries are considered potentially dangerous, and any children present during a hunt are told to climb trees in case the peccaries become fierce. Baby whitelipped peccaries are often captured during hunts and kept as pets, although captive animals become fierce as adults and must be kept in a pen. White-lipped peccary hides could formerly be sold legally, so the Matses used to prepare them for sale, but only collared peccary hides are purchased now. Some hunters smoke white-lipped peccary meat for sale at nearby non-Indian towns.

Men do not eat the heart, lest they lose their endurance while running after game.

MATSES NATURAL HISTORY: White-lipped peccaries are larger than collared peccaries. Their lower cheeks and jaws are white. Their feet have two hooves. They emit a strong, foul smell, different from that of collared peccaries.

White-lipped peccaries walk and sleep in all types of habitats, including upland and floodplain forest, and palm swamps.

White-lipped peccaries are diurnal. They sleep at night on the ground and set out at dawn. They travel very far, swimming across rivers, and come back after a long time. When the Matses kill some of them, the rest of the herd travels very far away and comes back only after a very long time. They travel slowly when there are many recently born young. They go around looking for fallen tree fruits and fallen palm nuts that they crunch loudly. They follow streams rooting in the floodplain earth for earthworms and digging into the streambed looking for mollusks and crustaceans. They make the water turbid where they dig into streambeds. They leave a wide path where they travel and leave large cleared areas where they have rooted. They raise the hair on their back and clack their teeth facing upward when they become aggressive.

White-lipped peccaries frequent mineral licks, where they drink the muddy water, eat mud, and bathe. They root beside mineral licks for earthworms.

White-lipped peccaries live in large herds (of up to 200 individuals) or in smaller herds (of 20 or 30 individuals). A large old male leads them.

White-lipped peccaries are fattest at the end of the rainy season (May). The female gives birth to a single young during the rainy season where the herd stops to sleep for the night. The first day the young does not walk, and the mother suckles it while the rest of the herd forages in the vicinity, without leaving the new mother. The next day, while its umbilical cord is still hanging, she takes it traveling around with the rest of the herd, moving slowly. The rest of the herd also travels slowly to let the newborn(s) keep up. The female eats and lies down frequently to suckle her young.

Jaguars and pumas eat white-lipped peccaries. 16

White-lipped peccaries grunt, snort, scream, and clack their teeth. The young grunt saying “wek wek.” They travel through the forest making a lot of noise.

While-lipped peccaries eat aquatic snails, clams, crabs, freshwater shrimp, earthworms, snakes (including pitvipers), and rotten meat. They eat many types of dicot tree fruits. They are especially fond of pinchuk ( Astrocaryum spp. [ Arecaceae ]) nuts. They eat the mesocarp and endosperm of swamp palm ( Mauritia flexuosa [ Arecaceae ]) fruits. They eat the new leaves of wild banana plants.

REMARKS: Matses interviews about whitelipped peccaries are much less informative than those about collared peccaries, presumably because this species is encountered at infrequent intervals. Although broadly consistent with the scattered literature (e.g., Kiltie and Terborgh, 1983; Fragoso, 1998, 1999; Tobler et al., 2009) in most respects, Matses observations do not suggest that this species routinely eats any item not also eaten by collared peccaries (contra Kiltie, 1982; see above), with the possible exception of venomous snakes.