peccary

noun pec·ca·ry \ ˈpe-kə-rē \

|Updated on: 15 May 2018

Definition of peccary

plural peccaries

: any of several largely nocturnal gregarious American mammals resembling the related pigs: such as

a : a grizzled animal (Tayassu tajacu) with an indistinct white collar

b : a blackish animal (Tayassu pecari) with a whitish mouth region

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Recent Examples of peccary from the Web

In the meantime, many lower- and middle-class households in Ceibal probably survived in part by hunting animals, like peccaries and deer, that came to forage in their grain fields.

— kiona n. smith, Ars Technica, "Ancient Maya traded dogs for use in religious ceremonies, new study shows," 19 Mar. 2018
Such big urban centers require lots of food, and the Mayans hunted deer, peccaries, and tapirs.

— michael price, Science | AAAS, "Some dogs were royalty, others were dinner in ancient Mayan culture," 19 Mar. 2018
PUBLISHED December 13, 2017 On January 8, 2017, an eight-year-old boy named Dante de Kort spotted a dead collared peccary near his home in central Arizona.

— National Geographic, "First-Ever Video May Show Pig-Like Animals Mourning Their Dead," 13 Dec. 2017
At others, peccaries, which are somewhat like wild pigs, have been taken.

— john kass, chicagotribune.com, "Eating the zoo creatures in Venezuela," 17 Aug. 2017
The goal is to ultimately improve conservation by learning where and how certain key species—like jaguars, peccaries, spider monkeys, and more—live in the forest.

— National Geographic, "Exclusive: Jungle Puppies Captured on Film for the First Time," 13 Apr. 2017
Clearly the ancestors of Amahuacatherium did not wait for the Panama land bridge to close before shuffling across, nor did other prehistoric mammals such as tapirs and peccaries which are also found in these Late Miocene deposits.

— brian switek, WIRED, "Nine million years ago, elephants invaded South America," 20 Apr. 2010

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'peccary.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.