Javelinas Hit The Road

Left: Map of the range of the javelina. Bosque del Apache, in the middle of NM, is nowhere near the range indicated.

Walt recently visited New Mexico, and among other places visited the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge near Socorro. He saw something quite remarkable there:

We saw javelinas at the Bosque del Apache! Back in the 70s, I never heard anybody talk about them – I do not believe there were any in Socorro County. The only one I ever saw was in the extreme SW corner of the state, in Hidalgo County. They spread into the Refuge about 7 years ago, and they have also moved into San Antonio. A woman there told us that they kill dogs and cats.

The same Web Site where I got the range map states:

The collared peccary, or javelina, is common in the southwestern United States, as shown by its range on the map. The javelina is also common in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Javelinas moved northward into Arizona about 200 years ago.

If this statement is correct, the javelina are continuing to move north!

That’s astonishing about javelinas at Bosque del Apache! Myself, I don’t know if they are expanding their range, or reclaiming former range. As the big cottonwoods die out along the Rio Grande, and fewer new ones establish themselves (because flooding is required) there seems to be a creeping desertification in the Rio Grande Valley. I’ve noticed more mesa-type plant life in the Alameda area very close to the river, and thought that strange. I’ve also wondered whether the creosote would expand north. In the 70’s, their northern margin along I-25 was at about Los Lunas/Belen. It would take very little change to push the northern margin into Albuquerque, but to my knowledge it hasn’t happened yet. But still – javelinas! Who woulda thought?