I do not take wildlife photos by going into the
outdoors looking for animals. But when wildlife comes close to me and exhibits
behavior of sharing areas populated by humans, my camera tries to identify
behavior I usually look for in street photography.
… It is now cold at night in the high desert
mountains of Arizona (-10C lately) and I see bobcat, coyote, deer and javelina on
a daily basis close to our house. A couple of days ago a large herd of javelina
(peccary) decided to check if any of the plants near our house were edible.
There were 3 large males, 8 females, and at least 6 young ones.
A peccary,
is a New World Pig. While not a true pig, there are a lot of anatomical similarities.
The males can be large, reaching 100 kg, and have long tusks for attacking any
danger to the herd. In Spanish they are called javelina, in Portuguese porco-do-mato,
in French pakira, and in English skunk pig.
… So, decided to get as close as I can to take
pictures of their behavior. Their eyesight is not good, but they can pick up a
scent or sound from a long distance.
The males are the most photogenic given their size
and constant vigil. The photo at the top was of the dominant male who allowed
me to come as close as 15 meters with my 1970s Nikkor-H 180mm telephoto. After
a few clicks, he decided to let me know that I should keep my distance by showing
his formidable tusks. Here is a cropped section of the above photo showing the
15 cm tusks.
The rest of the herd relied on the males to guard
and continued look for roots without often looking at me. I was careful to keep
an eye on the males for my own safety, and at some point could only see two
males. I looked around and suddenly was faced with this moment:
Here is a crop of the camouflaged younger male who
was keeping an eye on me…
There were some tender moments between male and
female
One even felt comfortable enough to ignore my
presence and continue scratching!
But at some point the dominant male decided that I
was intruding too much. He started grinding his tusks to make a warning sound
and then the hair on his back stood up.
That was my signal to leave them alone.
February 25, 2018
©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2018