Social interactions of juvenile Collared peccaries, Tayassu tajacu (Mammalia: Artiodactyla)

Is there a predictable relationship between species-typical behavioural development and social organization in mammals? Earlier work on canids and rodents suggested that adult sociality is associated with a developmental schedule in which juveniles showed, among themselves: (1) frequent social play; (2) frequent amicable contact; (3) frequent olfactory contact; (4) a delay in the emergence of agonistic behaviour. In the highly social Collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu) the behaviour of juveniles conformed only partially to this scheme. Juveniles engaged in social play with each other at an early age, but showed no other observable amicable or olfactory contact until eight to twelve weeks of age and showed no delay in the emergence of agonistic behaviour among themselves. Adults, in contrast, were conspicuously tolerant of juveniles, and 86% of juvenile social interactions in the first year took place with adults.