By Nancy Cowing Umphres

I received a telephone call from Anna Rideker, a fellow wildlife rehabilitator in Kingsville, several weeks ago. She had just. acquired a three-week old female javelina. The mother had been shot and the little one was in poor condition. A mutual friend had told her about our foster father javelina (Rambo), and once the baby was stable she gave me a call.

Javelinas, or collared pecarries, are native to Texas as well as New Mexico, Arizona, and on south through Mexico to Central and South America. Many people confuse javelinas with feral hogs, but they are a distinctly unique native species. Some think they are distantly related to the South American tapir, while others compare them to the African hippopotamus. Early Spanish explorers gave them the javelina name due to their long sharp spear-like tusks. Their delicate pink snout has a tough top that helps in digging up roots and gives them their pig-like appearance.

Their other name, collared peccary, helps describe the light colored collar of wiry fur that runs from under their chins up over their back. This is surrounded by salt-and-pepper bristles and a dark black stripe that runs down their back. Expressive, small dog-like ears, large, brown deer-like eyes, dark legs that end in delicate ballerina-like hoofs make for quite a special little mammal.

Javelinas are social herd animals that travel in family groups that can number from only a few to up to 50 animals. Both males and females will risk their lives to protect the herd’s young from predators such as mountain lions, jaguars, and man. Their devotion to their young has given them a bad reputation as an aggressive species. Their poor eyesight makes them even more cautious and reactive to sudden sounds and movements. A keen sense of smell and hearing helps keep them from the paths of man, their worst enemy.

Thanks to a little networking and the kind volunteer help of Dave and Jerry Mertens, we received the orphaned javelina in good physical condition. Mentally she was still pining the loss of her mother and family. She kept looking and crying for three long days but at least she was eating well. The weather, her delicate condition, and the three-hour around the clock feedings kept me from introducing her to Rambo for almost a week. She is still a bit young to turn over to him on a 24-hour basis, but I like to introduce them as soon as possible.

Rambo greeted the new baby with his usual enthusiasm of wet kisses and much soft, maternal grunting. Phoebe, as christened by my mother, was a bit unsure of her new father and barked in anger at his first attempts to socialize. It took several visits before she warmed up to him.

As soon as Phoebe is weaned and able to eat more solids she will be moved outside with Rambo. In the wild javelinas eat a wide variety of roots and seeds. Nopales and tunas, cactus pads and prickly pears are favorites, but they also snack on an occasional insect, grub, snake, rat, or dead bird.

Phoebe is beginning to crunch on just about anything that finds its way to her little snout. The incessant crunching on pebbles is a bit unnerving. Our little black cat Kinsey wasn't very happy about the snout finding her tail. She made her objections well known with a light swat on the offending pink object. Phoebe and Kinsey have since have become cautions friends. I watched them play a game of tag with each other and Kinsey likes to get a good scratch from the hard part of the Phoebe snout. We once had a batch of kittens who would go into Rambo's cage to visit him and even sleep curled up next to him.

The loud barks of a hungry Phoebe rush me to bring this article to a close. A quick update as the milk warms. The Harris’s hawk nest was blown down in the recent high winds and two eggs were lost. The rebuilding and mating has already begun in earnest. I hope they are successful this time. They have raised three nests with a total of seven