8 Reasons Why Zoo Staff Think the Chacoan Peccary Might Be Your New Favorite Animal
To some, they’re living fossils. To others, they’re forest ghosts, rarely seen inhabitants of South America’s remote Gran Chaco region. But to animal curator Craig Saffoe, they’re equal parts fascinating and fun. “They’re one of the coolest animals we’ve ever worked with,” he said.
Four Chacoan peccaries moved into their habitat earlier this summer at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Saffoe and assistant curator Leigh Pitsko share why these animals might just become your new favorite.
1. They have interesting (and helpful) nicknames.
When the four female peccaries arrived earlier this year from San Diego Zoo, they didn’t have official names. So the keeper team came up with nicknames: Zsa Zsa Gaboar, Mia Hamm, Mariska Hogitay, and Hamela Anderson.
The nicknames are fun, but they also serve a practical purpose, Saffoe said. “We task our keepers to really get a bead on the animals they care for, to the point where they can tell whether an ‘off’ behavior might mean the animal is getting sick. The nicknames are a way to help facilitate the bond between human and animal.”
Pitsko said distinct personalities have emerged:
“Zsa Zsa is the smallest, but the leader of the group. She’s always the first in line to eat,” she said. “Mariska’s the lookout, and she eats last because she’s more cautious than the rest. Mia usually shadows Zsa Zsa, and Hamela tends to stick close to Mariska.”
The tough, leathery snout of a Chacoan peccary is perfect for rooting and foraging in hot, dry forests.
2. Visitors have compared them to Star Wars characters.
The peccaries have already drawn plenty of comments about their looks, Pitsko said.
“They don’t have necks, their heads are oversized, and they have these flat, almost two-dimensional bodies,” she explained. “Because of that, we’ve had a lot of visitors tell us they look strange or like they’re from another planet. Someone actually said they look like aliens from Star Wars.”
3. They’re not pigs, but they’re closely related to the javelina.
At a passing glance, visitors often assume the peccaries are just another type of boar, said Saffoe. In fact, peccaries are pig-like mammals that belong to their own family, Tayassuidae, which are found only in the Americas. Meanwhile, boars and pigs belong to a separate family, Suidae, found in Eurasia and Africa.
Saffoe said one way to spot the difference is by looking at the animals’ mouths. “Rather than having tusks that curve upward and outward like a boar’s, peccaries have short canines that point straight down,” he said.
Chacoan peccaries do have a more familiar cousin, though. The collared peccary — better known in the United States as the javelina — is common across the American Southwest, with an estimated 250,000 living in the region. But while many Americans have a decent chance of encountering a javelina in the wild, the Chacoan peccary is a different species entirely... and a far rarer one.
4. They are ‘living fossils’ that were once known only from archaeological remains.
In the early 1970s, scientists were surprised to find herds of Chacoan peccaries living in South America's Gran Chaco region. Why? Because before that, the only concrete evidence of the species' existence came from fossils discovered around 1930 — leading biologists to assume the species had long been extinct.
5. No North American zoo had them until 1996.
Chacoan peccaries are brand new to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. In fact, they're relatively new to zoos in general. After being rediscovered in 1972, a multi-institutional team of zoologists established a managed breeding group in Paraguay in 1985. From that population, the first herd to reach North America arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in 1996.
In the wild, Chacoan peccaries eat cacti, roots, fruit and succulent plants, along with the occasional small mammal or egg. Most of the water in their diet comes from the plants they eat.
6. The whole group uses one "bathroom," and no one is entirely sure why.
It’s a zookeeper’s dream: all four peccaries defecate in a single pile within the exhibit. “They make it easy for us,” Pitsko said.
Believe it or not, this isn't something keepers trained them to do: it’s a natural habit for the species. Other mammals, including raccoons and tapirs, form communal latrines in the wild, a behavior that's often correlated with territory marking, group bonding, or avoiding conflict with rival groups. For peccaries specifically, though, the reason behind the habit is still something of a mystery.
7. With only about 3,000 left in the wild, they’re an endangered species.
The peccaries’ are found only in the Gran Chaco, a dry, thorny forest that spans across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and a small part of Brazil. Roughly the size of California, this region is one of the largest ecosystems in South America. It also has one of the highest deforestation rates on the planet: agricultural expansion and logging have consumed more than 11,000 square miles (29,000 square kilometers) of forest from 2010-2018.
Fortunately, Chacoan peccaries are now a focus of conservation efforts in both Americas. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is one of dozens of zoos participating in the Species Survival Plan (SSP), a program run by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The SSP fosters healthy, genetically diverse populations of Chacoan peccaries in human care while also supporting conservation groups that protect peccaries and other animals in the Gran Chaco.
8. Yes, baby ‘peclets’ could be in the Zoo’s future.
Baby peccaries are sometimes affectionately called “peclets” … and yes, they are about as adorable as you’d expect, said Saffoe. But Chacoan peccaries are so rare in human care that any future additions to the Zoo's group will need to be closely coordinated through the SSP, which works to maximize genetic diversity across the population of Chacoan peccaries in accredited zoos.
“We brought in four females specifically because it’s a new species for us,” said Saffoe. “But we've had some visitors who ask, ‘well, don’t you want babies?’ And the answer is, who doesn’t? But just like it can take time to plan a human family, we have to do a lot of preparation and planning before we decide to expand our zoo family.”
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