Chacoan peccary

Chacoan peccaries are similar in size and resemblance to pigs or boars, but they’re only distantly related. Like pigs, peccaries have compact, muscular bodies with long heads, short ears, and small hooves, but they do not have curved tusks — instead, they have short canine teeth that point downward. Their fur is coarse and mostly charcoal gray with pale markings.

Adults weigh between 60-90 pounds (27–41 kilograms) and stand about 2 feet (0.6 meters) tall at the shoulder. Chacoan peccaries are the largest of the three peccary species.

Thorny forests and dry scrubland. These animals are only found in a remote region called the Gran Chaco, a semi-arid lowland forest ecosystem that spans across parts of Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina. 

In human care, Chacoan peccaries can live for up to 20 years.

Chacoan peccaries vocalize with the other members of their herd by grunting, squealing, and snapping their jaws. To signal their presence, they mark their scent on trees and rocks, leaving behind a strong, musky odor that is often compared to a skunk.

Like other mammals, peccaries have a piloerection reflex that causes tiny muscles at the base of their hair follicles to contract. This causes the bristles on their back to stand up, which can signal excitement or caution to other members of the squadron.

Chacoan peccaries are omnivores. They mainly eat tough plants and roots found throughout their habitat. By dispersing seeds through their waste — often in “scat stations” that are shared by the entire herd — they help maintain plant life in their ecosystem.

They are especially well adapted to eating cacti, which also contains much of the water they need to survive. Using their tough snouts, peccaries will roll the cactus pads along the ground or against rocks to remove the spines before eating the soft inner flesh. 

Mostly active at dawn and dusk. Squadrons usually sleep together in shallow depressions that they scrape out of the ground.

Chacoan peccaries typically live in groups of 2 to 10 individuals. These groups, called squadrons, have clear dominance hierarchies and strong social bonds.

Peccaries are shy and elusive in the wild. When threatened by a predator such as a puma or jaguar, they will line up in a wall formation to defend themselves. 

Breeding often coincides with periods of higher food availability, particularly during seasons of increased rainfall. Females have a gestation period of about 150 days, after which one to four babies, usually called “reds” or "peclets", are born at a time. Newborn peccaries are precocial, meaning they are able to walk and run within just a few hours of birth. Juveniles are able to reproduce at around two years of age.

With just 3,000 left in the world, Chacoan peccaries are fighting for survival. Overhunting and habitat loss are the biggest threats to their population. Large swaths of the Gran Chaco ecosystem have been cleared for soy farming and cattle ranching, leaving the peccaries’ native forest divided into small, isolated patches with limited natural resources.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute takes part in the Species Survival Plan (SSP) for Chacoan peccaries, working with other zoos to coordinate breeding efforts and ensure genetic diversity in a collectively managed population. 

Four female peccaries live at the Zoo. Their unofficial nicknames are Zsa Zsa Gaboar, Mia Hamm, Mariska Hogitay, and Hamela Anderson.