We didn’t go anywhere today, except the commissary for groceries. Decided to just stay put and relax.
The one interesting thing that happened was when we went to take Lovie for a walk after dinner which was right at dusk. The dog area is just in back of the gravel area behind our RV. (Our view out the back is the Huachuca Mountain range.) In the picture you can see light colored grass and a small tree in back of the gravel. We were just starting over there when Jim saw what he thought was a small bear. We quickly realized it wasn’t a bear but a javelina. Then we kept seeing more until there were at least 12 or 13 of them including a number of babies, and more kept coming out of the long grass behind the dog walk. The adults were surprisingly large. (Adult males are generally around 65 lbs, females a little smaller.) They are mostly nocturnal so dusk is prime time to come out and start feeding. We’ve never seen them at night when we’ve walked Lovie but we’ll keep a much closer watch for them from now on. They should never be approached, especially when walking a dog because coyotes and dogs are natural predators of javelina which would make them very defensive. They would be particularly dangerous when protecting their babies.
They really are cute. They look a lot like pigs but are actually members of the peccary family. Their range is huge, going all the way from Argentina to AZ, TX and NM, and is expanding northward, probably as a result of global warming. Their coats are coarse and apparently provide good protection since their primary food is prickly pear cactus which they eat spines and all. (We’ve been told their mouths are specially designed to be able to eat cactus spines.) The picture of the javelina above was one I took at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Carlsbad, NM.
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