Despite all this supplementary diet, the main dietary components of this species are agaves and prickly pears. They also use their tough, disk-shaped snout to turn over dead vegetation in search of roots and new shoots. Favorite foods include mesquite beans and fruits and pads of prickly pear cactus. They can live a relatively long life of up to 20 years, but average lifespan is 13.Ĭollared peccaries are primarily herbivorous and have complex stomachs for digesting coarsely chewed food. Groups can be as large as 30, but usually 20 or so. They rub each other several times a day to transfer their scent, as well as ‘mark’ their territory with the scent gland.
The scent gland helps these social animals identify who is and who is not in their family, as well as the boundaries of their territory. They are different in size (smaller), appearance, number of teeth and a distinctive musky scent. The collared peccary resemble pigs, but are from a different family than pigs and wild boars. They can also be found in foothills in chaparral, oak and pine woods. Habitat: In the Southwest, desert grasslands and brushy foothills, usually near water. Size: About 36 inches (3 feet) nose to tail weighs 30 to 60 pounds. NPS Photo Collared peccary Also known as: javelina, musk hog, skunk pig Today, there are approximately 300,000 mule deer in the state. In 1926, mule deer reached a population low point of around 41,000 in New Mexico.
In wild populations, males seldom live longer than 8 years, and females seldom live longer than 14 years. Most active in the early morning and late evening, these deer are intermediate feeder/browsers, preferring leaves and twigs to grass. Their coloration varies from dark gray in winter to reddish brown in summer. The males’ antlers are also forked or branched evenly. Named for their huge ears and black-tipped tails, they can be easily distinguished from their cousins, the white tail, by their ‘boxy’ body shape and distinctive bouncy gait. Habitat: They can be found from desert shrub lands to coniferous forests prefer vegetation or physical features that provide cover. Size: Total length about 63 inches (5 feet), adults average weight 150 pounds for does and 225 pounds for bucks. NPS Photo Mule deer Also known as: muley, black-tailed deer, burro deer
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