Collared Peccary Range Expansion in Northwestern New Mexico Author(S): Steven Albert, Cynthia A
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Southwestern Association of Naturalists Collared Peccary Range Expansion in Northwestern New Mexico Author(s): Steven Albert, Cynthia A. Ramotnik and C. Gregory Schmitt Reviewed work(s): Source: The Southwestern Naturalist, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Dec., 2004), pp. 524-528 Published by: Southwestern Association of Naturalists Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3672415 . Accessed: 17/07/2012 10:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Southwestern Association of Naturalists is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Southwestern Naturalist. http://www.jstor.org 524 TheSouthwestern Naturalist vol. 49, no. 4 COLLARED PECCARY RANGE EXPANSION IN NORTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO STEVENALBERT,* CYNTHIAA. RAMOTNIK,AND C. GREGORYSCHMITT Parametrix,Inc., P0.OBox 1473, Zuni, NM 87327 (SA) United States GeologicalSurvey, Fort Collins Science Center,Museum of SouthwesternBiology, Universityof New Mexico, Albuquerque,NM 87131 (CAR) P.O. Box 267, Kirtland, NM 87417 (CGS) *Correspondent:salbert@parametrix. com ABSTRACT-We report new records of collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) in New Mexico that doc- ument its continued northwardexpansion in the United States, in general, and in northwestern New Mexico, in particular.These records might represent the northernmost extent of its range in the Southwest. Collared peccaries in New Mexico typicallyoccur in desert, rocky, and brushy foothill regions and ripariancommunities. On the Zuni Indian Reservation,animals were observed at elevations up to 2,335 m in pinion-juniperand ponderosa pine habitats.Climate might play an important role in range expansion and contraction as collared peccaries might migrate north during years of drought or mild winters in search of food or new habitat. RESUMEN-Presentamosnuevos registros del pecari de collar (Pecanrtajacu) en Nuevo M6xico que documentan su continua expansi6n al norte en los Estados Unidos en general, y en el no- roeste de Nuevo Mexico, en particular.Estos datos pueden representarla extensi6n mas al norte de su rango en el suroeste. El pecari de collar en Nuevo M6xico suele ocurrir en zonas deserticas, parajes rocosos, y colinas con mucha vegetaci6n y en comunidades riparias. En la Zuni Indian Reservationse han observado animales en elevaciones hasta 2,335 m en habitatsde pifi6n-enebro y pino ponderosa. Puede ser que el clima juegue un papel importante en la expansi6n y la contracci6n de su rango de distribuci6nya que el pecari de collar puede migrar al norte durante afios de sequia o inviernos templados en bfsqueda de comida o habitat nuevo. The collared peccary (Tayassuidae: Pecari ta- acquired a photograph of an adult female col- jacu) is a generalist herbivore that ranges from lared peccary that had been trapped in 1987 central South America to the southwestern just east of the reservation (Table 1). The pho- United States and inhabits grasslands, desert tograph is on file with the Zuni Fish and Wild- scrub communities, arid woodlands (Bissonet- life Department. On the Zuni Indian Reserva- te, 1999), and riparian habitat. Recently the tion, collared peccaries occurred at elevations collared peccary has been reported from up to 2,335 m in pifion-juniper (Pinus edulis- Oklahoma in an area immediately adjacent to Juniperus) and ponderosa pine (Pinus pondero- Texas (Stangl and Dalquest, 1990). Over the sa) habitats. past 10 years, residents of the Zuni Indian Res- The earliest distribution map of collared ervation in New Mexico have reported multi- peccaries in New Mexico of which we are aware ple sightings of the collared peccary on the was provided by Bailey (1905:58), in which he Reservation (Table 1), which covers over 1,800 showed peccaries occurring in the "unsettled km2 in McKinley and Cibola counties. We treat- sandhill region of southeastern New Mexico" ed the initial reports with some skepticism be- (present-day Eddy and Lea counties). This area cause they were not accompanied by any phys- is depicted as the northern tip of a continuous ical evidence and a sighting of this species distribution area extending from southern would have represented a considerable range Texas (Bailey, 1905). Mearns (1907) reported expansion from the closest published record in peccaries from several mountain ranges in New Mexico (Findley et al., 1975). However, in southwestern New Mexico in areas presently 1997 we discovered a complete mandible near within Hidalgo County. Ligon (1927) reported the middle of the reservation, and in 2001, we that the species occurred in the United States December 2004 Notes 525 in a narrow zone along the southern boundary of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, but it was most numerous in the extreme southwestern portion of New Mexico, with a few surviving in I .?'i ants I 'v i i y 60 the sand country east of Carlsbad (probably o0 Lea County), where they were formerly abun- q dant. referred this latter in 00 on 00v ro t NN Bailey (1931) group 0 to P. angulatus angulatus, the Texas peccary, o0 and referred the paler one in the southwestern part of the state to P. a. sonoriensis, the Yaqui 00 000 00 C 00 C4 1 00 0() d0' ar 004 N N en o G O CO OO In 1965, Donaldson (1967) estimated cr a t ZO peccary. oo c6 , Oq LqN N G Otr O ON O GO the of collared to include o, "S range peccaries por- Cu tions of Catron, Grant, and Hidalgo counties 0 in the southwestern part of the state and Eddy o 0C C0 0G<0 0 0a 0 G0 0o0 0 0i0 County in the southeastern part of the state, where they were said to be uncommon. The New Mexico of Game and Fish re- y r-qi in in o t- rcGQ to r-l c Department introduced the species in 1965 to the Guada- on o on 7 on on 7oo lupe Mountains in Eddy County, and the ani- 00 0 00000 t 0 00 mal has been regularly observed there in the oa. past 10 years (K. N. Geluso, pers. comm.). The I- or4 aCn s oor s ' s cs ? ?c southwestern subspecies has spread east into GN nGN ?n64 en GN G G cq Luna County and north into the Gila and San Francisco in Catron C drainages County (Findley et al., 1975). Findley (1987) included Otero County as occupied range although we are not 0 aware of any specimen records. "l Additional specimens in the mammal collec- (?) 0 00 G^ tions of the Museum of Southwestern 00Z 0, O04 GGb Z b G 4 ZbOZ o -- Biology G C O I C) - C)C- 0)O 0 (MSB; Appendix 1) and the New Mexico Mu- seum of Natural History (NMMNH; Appendix 1) better define the known range of collared peccary in southwestern New Mexico and pro- '5 5 vide the first voucher specimens for Grant County (MSB 89185), Catron County (MSB \ CA G 1 CA cn v t C cn v r- 25146), and Cibola County (NMMNH 3859). Our specimen from the Zuni Indian Reserva- tion documents the first occurrence in McKin- * 0 Ur( O~~~~~~t C) C --) ley County, a range expansion of 370 km from ? )- -V .- the closest published record in Hidalgo Coun- V4a a ty (Findley et al., 1975), and reveals a contin- E * ued northward expansion in New Mexico (Fig. a/ -6CO.a 1). Izv T*53 2Zog 00000 * 00 000 a in u a A similar northward expansion, helped a4- "abD part by transplant efforts, seems to be occur- ring in Arizona and Texas. Hoffmeister (1986: It that the of the a 533) suggested range peccary rr. in 40 3 ma. in Arizona might have expanded the past t^ cru O and their "north of the GV c',r c z o years presence Mogol- *. lon Plateau may be a relatively recent event." q^Q^Q^SggQgggg Hoffmeister (1986) did not map many of the Q2XS" S O EEc cE E transplants that occurred in the state. Howev- er, Theimer and Keim (1994) mapped loca- 526 The SouthwesternNaturalist vol. 49. no. 4 Additionalspecimens Specimens reported in Findley et al. 1975 Zuni IndianReservation sightings - --o 0 50 100 200 I Kilometers FIG 1-Distribution of the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) in New Mexico based on voucher specimens and sightings on the Zuni Indian Reservation (inset). December 2004 Notes 527 tions where the Arizona Department of Game quickly their populations can expand north- and Fish transplanted peccaries that were orig- ward. inally captured in southern portions of the state. Two of these locations represent the We thank and C. McKenna and Q. Lalio who northernmost locations in Arizona, but we do worked on the map and C. Hanes, N. Luna, and all of the Zuni communitymembers who reported their not know if these transplants were successful. sightings.J. McConachie provided museum records In Texas, collared have peccaries expanded from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. their north to the Red River and east at range Comments by M. Bogan, T. Lee, and 1 anonymous least to the Brazos River (Davis and Schmidly, reviewergreatly improved the manuscript.This pro- 1994). Hall (1981) showed the northern extent ject was graciously supported by the Zuni Tribal of collared peccary in Texas to be Montague Council. County, but no voucher specimens were known from this region until Stangl and Dalquest LITERATURECITED (1990) the first vouchers from reported Jack V.