Rainforest Expeditions (est. 1989) operates three award winning Amazon lodges: Posada Amazonas, Refugio Amazonas, and Tambopata Research Center. Each Amazon lodge provides access to a unique set of ecotourism experiences in the jungle of southeastern Peru.
Our packages include activities comprised of aspects of nature and culture of the Amazon rainforest. We offer a variety of special interest activities, tours and expeditions like Soft Adventure, Birdwatching expeditions, Family and more...
White-lipped Peccary (Tayassu pecari )
Photo: Rosemarie Lerner
Name: White-lipped Peccary
Local Name: Huangana, chancho de monte
Scientific Name: Tayassu pecari
Characteristics:
- Weight 30 kg. Size 100 cm.
- Body grey with a white spot at the base of the mouth.
- Sin plumas en la cara, piel azul.
- Adults and sub-adults use gland secretions from their backside to mark trees and rocks from its territory, by rubbing against them. They emanate a fetid odor specially when alarmed.
- They travel in big herds of 50 to up to 300 individuals.
Habitat and behavior: Gregarious. Herds travel long distances visiting each area for hours or days. Nocturnal and diurnal. Limited to large tracts of mature, evergreen forest with little human disturbance.
Diet: Their teeth are adapted to eat a wide variety of food that includes fruits, roots, leaves, fungi, eggs, worms, snails, insects, amphibians, lizards and snakes.
Reproductive habits: Each herd of white-lipped peccaries subdivides in small family groups. Number of females can outnumber males in a proportion of 3 to 1. They give birth to 1 to 4 offspring, which will depend on their mother for the next 24 weeks. White-lipped peccaries can walk and run after one hour of being born. Both parents and other members of the group take care of the offspring. This species can live up up to 13 years in captivity.
Curiosities: White-lipped peccaries communicate by low level vocalizations, sounds with teeth that change depending on the activity. When alarmed by the presence of a predator – jaguar or puma - the herd disperses in all directions.
