Skunk Pigs Near my House

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