Peccary and Capybara leather: the ultimate in softness and drape

摘要

Peccaries are a family of the order Artiodactyla, and are related to the pig. In the Tertiary period (65 to 1.8 million years ago, when mammals became the important land animals) peccaries roamed widely across Europe and Asia, but today only two genera with three species and 19 subspecies (Tayassu pecari 5, Tayassu tajacu 14) survive. Peccaries differ from true pigs in that they possess an umbilicated gland on the rear part of the back as shown in Figure 1 (right). Further distinguishing features are the more complicated stomach, which represents a transition to the stomach of ruminants, the absence of outer toes on the hind-feet and the vestigial tail (not visible).