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  3. Chacoan Peccary

One of the 3 peccaries on WAnimals

Mammals · Artiodactyla · Tayassuidae

Chacoan Peccary

Catagonus wagneri

Endangered

At very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future.

Spotted something wrong?

The Chacoan peccary is the largest of the peccaries and one of the most surprising zoological discoveries of the twentieth century: it was described in 1930 from fossils and was believed extinct until living populations were found in the Paraguayan Chaco in 1974. It is highly adapted to dry thorn forest: it eats cactus, whose spines it strips by rolling the plants along the ground with its snout, and its kidneys process the acid in them. It lives in small groups and depends on a habitat that is being cleared at great speed.

Weight

30 kg – 43 kg

Size

96 cm – 1.2 m

Life expectancy

9 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Herd

Lives in large groups as a strategy against predators.

Sighting difficulty

Hard

Temperate forestDesert
3countries5parks2same family

Fun facts

  • GeneralIt was described as a living species in 1975, having been known only from fossils.
  • It was described as a fossil species in 1930 and believed extinct until living animals were found in the Paraguayan Chaco in 1974: it is one of the great rediscoveries of modern zoology.
  • It eats cactus and, before swallowing, rolls the pads along the ground with its snout to strip off the spines; its kidneys are specially adapted to process the oxalic acid in those plants.

Life cycle and biology

Skeleton type
Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat and environment
Dry thorn forest of the Gran Chaco, with cacti and bromeliads, in Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina
Size at birth
Precocial: on its feet within half an hour, although it stays hidden for the first few weeks
Sexual maturity
3 years
Gestation / incubation
5 months
Litter / clutch size
2.4 (average)

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catagonus_wagneri

Where to find it

Best time: All year round in the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina, mostly in the morning; it is very wary and hard to watch.

Loading map…

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.

Where to see it

Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented.

Related species

Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Chacoan Peccary — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.

Same taxonomic family
Same taxonomic family
Shares a park
Shares a park
Shares a park
Shares a park

How to help

The chacoan peccary is classified as endangered. Organisations such as the IUCN, WWF and the Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programmes is a good starting point if you want to get involved.

It's documented in 3 protected areas — one reason why protecting these places matters for its conservation.

Keep exploring

Based on what we already know about chacoan peccary.

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See full glossary
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See its range on the interactive map→
Defensores del ChacoParaguay
CopoArgentina
ChacoArgentina
Kaa-Iya del Gran ChacoBolivia
Río PilcomayoArgentina
Collared PeccaryLeast Concern

Collared Peccary

Pecari tajacu

White-Lipped PeccaryVulnerable

White-Lipped Peccary

Tayassu pecari

Endangered

Yellow Cardinal

Gubernatrix cristata

PumaLeast Concern

Puma

Puma concolor

Least Concern

Geoffroy's Cat

Leopardus geoffroyi

Near Threatened

Southern Three-banded Armadillo

Tolypeutes matacus

CountriesArgentina
ParksDefensores del ChacoParaguay
TagsHerbivore
Herbivore
Diurnal
In herds
Endangered
Temperate forest
Desert
Mammal
Argentina
Bolivia
Paraguay