Giant Peccary Discovery
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 2nd, 2007
You may be seeing news reports this week of the discovery of a giant peccary (Pecari maximus) in Brazil’s River Aripuana basin, which is part of the Amazon system. See examples here and here.
Cryptomundo reported on this finding on July 24, 2006, in my blog “New Giant Peccary.”
However, due to the research findings being published in the scientific journal Bonner zoologische Beiträge on 29 October 2007, the giant peccary is in the news again.
It is the same one, and not a new “giant peccary” species. It, nevertheless, remains a remarkable discovery.
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Loren Coleman no longer writes for Cryptomundo. His archived posts remain here at Cryptomundo.
Glad to see it.
Great post Loren, the giant peccary discovery is very interesting. I have been looking for a comprehensive list of cryptid discoveries. I have been able to find short lists that include former cryptids like ceolacanth, komodo dragons, ivory billed woodpeckers and the like. I was hoping you or one of the other cryptomundians out here could direct me to a more extensive list that also includes the names of the people that made these great discoveries. Thanks everyone.
It’s this kind of thing that puts the lie to the idea that there are “no undiscovered large species” out there in the world. It also puts the lie to the notion that local wisdom is untrustworthy.
Giant?
How large is it?
I went looking for some info about it but couldn’t find anything.
Does anyone know where I can find info?
Very impressive new discovery Loren and great to hear about it, thanks!
I don’t buy it. Clearly that is a photo of a mangy bear.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I have no doubt that we are a ways away from discovering every large mammal out there.
Oh, a REAL Giant Peccary! Sorry, wrong post – I thought this was the one about Beckjord.
Checked out one of the linked sites and found similar news.
Huge herds of herbivores – likened by one researcher to those of the Serengeti – discovered in southern Sudan, an area racked with almost three decades of civil war and the inevitable bushmeat hunting. And it’s virtually all open country. It’s not like these animals were hidden or anything.
Large and unexpected numbers of megafauna in logged-over Sumatran forests all but given up for dead.
And (we talked about it here although some time back) a new species of leopard – obviously different, at a glance, from the species of which it was considered to be a part for over a century.
And they say the sasquatch can’t exist because it has nowhere to hide. North America is a lot bigger than the Sudan – definitely more so than Sumatra – and much less densely populated.
Not to mention which, its people spend much less time outside than people in those other places.
Kool! Any new animal discovery is always good news.
I think the name might be new but big peccaries have been known for years. I lived in La Paz Bolivia in the late ’60s. There was a city zoo between Avaneda Arce and the river that might be low budget by todays standard, you could climb into the pens and go in after dark. it was genuinely “interactive”. There was a pen with several huge Peccaries (by Texas standards), located across the path from the Puma cage, she sat out on her veranda in the evening and purred at the peccaries, feeling well cared for. I think the Peccaries liked her too. they came up to the fence expecting scratches from every one.