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Article: The peccary's progress: drawn northward from Latin America to better habitat, these tropical pig-like creatures have adapted well to the arid Southwest.
- Article from:
- National Parks
- Article date:
- July 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 National Parks Conservation Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Jerry Day looked into the abandoned mine with trepidation. Day and his colleagues from the Arizona Game and Fish Department had found a herd of javelinas that had taken refuge in the mine from the hot Sonoran Desert sun. Day was selected to enter the mine and drive the animals out into nets so they could be captured, given radio collars, and released for study.
"I couldn't see a thing" inside the tunnel, says Day, a retired wildlife biologist, "but I could hear the adults clacking their teeth as a warning." Suddenly, the javelinas bolted past Day, out of the mine, and through the netting. "We never did catch any of them," he says.
Long before that ...