INFANTICIDE IN CAPTIVE COLLARED PECCARIES (TAYASSU-TAJACU)
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Housing animals in groups that are typical of the normal social system can be very important to the success of captive husbandry. Collared peccaries normally live in mixedsex territorial groups of 1340 individuals with little evidence for movement between groups. We recorded 2130 cases of infanticide in a captive group composed of animals from several wild groups. In five observed cases, the attacker was a female unrelated to the mother, but related females helped defend neonates. Victims did not differ in sex ratio or size from individuals that survived. We recommend that peccaries be housed as related female lineages. Copyright 1990 WileyLiss, Inc., A Wiley Company