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Thursday, November 19, 2015

Gregory Peccary at the Javelina Cantina

Long shadow on the Tortoise
When we were descending a road west of Tortugas Mountain this morning, Becca went on full alert, sniffing the air, looking left and right.  I soon caught sight of what she'd picked up, and right off the bat I thought "Javelina."  But since I'd only ever seen one Javelina (Peccary) here in the Chihuahuan Desert I doubted myself, thinking it must have been a big Coyote instead.  As soon as we crossed through a wide arroyo and started climbing up a hill on the far side I saw several Javelinas.  One large individual--I think it was an adult male--stood and watched us for a while before scrambling off with the others.  They moved so fast through the underbrush I couldn't get an accurate count, but I'd estimate there were ten to twelve of them, three or four of which were really young.  I was shocked to see that big of a herd here, and a little cautious.  Full grown male Javelinas can do serious physical damage to a dog, and I didn't want to take any chances with Becca, whose curiosity level was at its highest after picking up Peccary scent.
Along the squiggly trail

Local color in the northern Chihuahuan Desert

The rugged desert
Ocotillo gone yellow

Ocotillo gone red




Green Ocotillo

Look who's watching us

A large Javelina

Tortugas and the Organs

5 comments:

ToniL said...

Hahaha - love your rhyming. Fabulous photos as always. xx

packrat said...

Many thanks, ToniL. :)

Dr. K said...

It's so interesting that javelina were out in the desert this morning. I'm glad Becca didn't get close. What do you call a group of javelina--a herd?

Scott said...

So cool, Packrat! And, I like the images of the colorful ocotillos, too.

packrat said...

Thanks, Scott. :)

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