Javelina, or collared peccary (Dicotyles tajacu) are naturalized, omnivorous animals with poor eyesight and a keen sense of smell. These animals are believed to have evolved in South America (where they still exist today) and have migrated north over time. Weighing between 35 and 60 lbs., they browse and eat the roots of many plants and often dig up plants they do not actually eat. Their diet changes with food availability and as with many herbivores, it is difficult to predict with absolute certainty what they will and will not eat or destroy. Due to this variability, instead of creating a list of plants in which herbivory is described in a “yes” or “no” fashion, a survey of both the existing literature on the subject and first-hand community experience was conducted. The results from that survey are presented in this publication as a percentage of those responses, which may be used to infer probability of herbivory. In reality, the only way to be certain that javelina will not damage your plants is to exclude them with a fence or other barrier. Read az1855 for information on fencing design.
Data were collected from multiple sources (books, websites, social media and surveys), many of which are also reporting data from their own sources, though only tallied in this publication as a single response. The goal was to obtain herbivory data from previous research on javelina and from Arizona residents and businesses with direct experience with the animals. “n” represents the number of data sources (see sources) who provided input; the larger the n value, generally the greater our confidence in the reported probability of damage, though as stated earlier, a single source could be an aggregate of several. Because animal behavior can vary based on several variables such as temperature and rainfall, these plant data have been categorized as “never to rarely damaged”, “sometimes damaged” and/ or “frequently damaged”, with percentages.
Learn more about plant resistance ratings by reading other articles in the Arizona Highlands Plant Herbovorys series.