Scenes from a Peccary Party

Look who we ran into (or rather who ran into us) at the Tapiche Jungle Reserve in the northern Amazon of Peru!

A few days ago in the afternoon we went downriver by boat heading to an area that seems to be popular with poachers. With the pandemic shutting everything down, everyone unemployed, and food resources scarce, the pressures upon our wildlife at the reserve have increased. We entered the partly flooded area walking and already from the riverside we could hear the sound of White-Lipped Peccaries (Tayassu pecari) moving not far away from us. In the muddy ground we could see their tracks and their walking trails and we started to notice their strong smell. From the sound it seemed like they were coming in our direction, so we didn't go on walking, but rather found a place in front of a big tree where we could stay without moving.

The peccaries were coming closer and we started to see them passing about 20 meters away from us when suddenly a few passed right next to us.

They stopped there and started eating the seeds of the Açai palm and the Walking Palmtree just about 1,5 meters away from us. Turn on the sound to hear them biting and breaking the seeds!

And just like that, we found ourselves in the middle of this huge group of 200 white-lipped peccaries. We didn't make any movement or sound so as not to disturb them (luckily we had the camera at hand and ready to shoot) and one peccary even stopped 1 meter in front of us, looked at us and then followed its way through. They were peacefully eating just next to us and we were able to spot several younger peccaries in the group.

Peccaries are very desired by poachers and have been hunted for generations. While we knew that they were still present inside of the reserve - we found their tracks and often heard and smelled them before - none of us have ever had the chance to observe them up closely and for a good moment. It was an incredible encounter that left us speechless. Seeing that there are still such big groups of the white-lipped peccary with several offspring inside of the reserve is an incredible confirmation of the positive effects of our conservation efforts in the Tapiche Jungle Reserve.

Enjoy watching and hearing this peccary looking for food and eating just next to us!