Tayassuidae

Peccaries are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae. They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccaries usually measure between 90 and 130 cm in length, and a full-grown adult usually weighs about 20 to 40 kg. They represent the closest relatives of the family Suidae, which contains pigs and relatives. Together Tayassuidae and Suidae are grouped in the suborder Suina within the order Artiodactyla.

Tayassuidae

Carlos Delgado · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
peccaryPBDB
Sits inside
SuoideaPBDB
Diet
herbivore, omnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 33 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 10 of 768 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 41 of 768 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 291 of 768 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 85 of 768 occurrencesPleistocene — about 328 of 768 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 4 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 4 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 5 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 7 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 7 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 4 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 4 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 5 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 5 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 7 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 10 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 9 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 11 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 17 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 26 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 30 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 30 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 30 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 28 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 28 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 29 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 32 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 34 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 50 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 76 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 272 occurrences33.9 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

768 occurrences of Tayassuidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

768 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

155 formations

Ash Hollow — 42.80°N, 100.80°WAsh Hollow — 42.39°N, 98.10°WAsh Hollow — 40.50°N, 100.50°WAsh Hollow — 42.60°N, 98.00°WAsh Hollow — 42.70°N, 100.00°WAsh Hollow — 41.70°N, 103.10°WAsh Hollow — 41.30°N, 101.89°WAsh Hollow — 43.40°N, 100.60°WAsh Hollow — 41.40°N, 102.40°WAsh Hollow — 43.20°N, 100.70°WAsh Hollow — 42.30°N, 98.00°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 40.95°N, 103.38°WBrule — 43.85°N, 102.50°WValentine — 42.80°N, 100.80°WValentine — 42.70°N, 100.00°WValentine — 42.81°N, 100.05°WValentine — 40.02°N, 98.53°WValentine — 42.78°N, 100.03°WValentine — 40.10°N, 98.50°WValentine — 42.80°N, 99.70°WValentine — 42.60°N, 98.00°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.98°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.70°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WJohn Day — 44.60°N, 119.62°WJohn Day — 44.90°N, 121.30°WJohn Day — 44.67°N, 119.63°WJohn Day — 44.83°N, 119.74°WJohn Day — 44.70°N, 120.10°WJohn Day — 44.60°N, 119.50°WBlanco — 33.81°N, 101.21°WBlanco — 33.70°N, 101.10°WBlanco — 33.77°N, 101.28°WBlanco — 28.53°N, 97.74°WFleming — 31.10°N, 93.10°WFleming — 30.50°N, 95.00°WFleming — 30.70°N, 94.70°WFleming — 31.00°N, 93.40°WFleming — 30.61°N, 95.15°WBarstow — 34.48°N, 116.20°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WBarstow — 35.05°N, 117.07°WGoliad — 28.60°N, 97.70°WGoliad — 28.34°N, 97.96°WGoliad — 28.49°N, 97.67°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WChapadmalal — 38.12°S, 57.57°WChapadmalal — 38.00°S, 58.00°WChapadmalal — 38.12°S, 57.70°WOlcott — 42.19°N, 103.73°WOlcott — 42.40°N, 103.80°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.08°N, 100.67°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.20°N, 100.70°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.10°N, 100.80°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.03°N, 100.75°WRancho Viejo Beds — 21.00°N, 100.70°WChadron — 43.60°N, 102.45°WChadron — 42.80°N, 103.40°WChadron — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChadron — 43.30°N, 102.50°WSharps — 43.30°N, 102.50°WOgallala — 36.80°N, 100.50°WOgallala — 36.70°N, 101.40°WOgallala — 35.70°N, 102.30°WOgallala — 38.90°N, 101.70°WOgallala — 35.68°N, 99.60°WPeace River — 27.90°N, 81.80°WPeace River — 27.68°N, 81.95°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WTamiami — 27.30°N, 81.30°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WTamiami — 27.30°N, 80.80°WTamiami — 26.50°N, 81.80°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WChoptank — 38.40°N, 76.50°WChoptank — 38.46°N, 76.47°WChoptank — 38.41°N, 76.42°WChoptank — 38.16°N, 76.83°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.10°N, 82.30°WAlachua — 29.70°N, 82.60°WMascall — 44.52°N, 119.67°WMascall — 44.92°N, 120.18°WMascall — 44.50°N, 119.30°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°W

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The named rock units Tayassuidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 131 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 389 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tayassuidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Tayassuidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,920 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 651 sites for Tayassuidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

353 references

Each of the 768 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 341 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Tayassuidae

Credit
Carlos Delgado
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tayassuidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSuoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Palmer 1897