Gmmv1980 · CC BY-SA 4.0Chacoan peccary (taguá)
Catagonus wagneri · tagua
The Chaco's “living fossil”: known only from fossils until it turned up alive in the 1970s.
What it is
The largest of the peccaries, it has longer ears, snout and tail than its relatives, and white hair on its shoulders and around its mouth. It lives only in the Dry Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina. It was described in 1930 from fossils found in Argentina. Decades later, zoologist Ralph Wetzel found living animals in the Paraguayan Chaco and published the discovery in the journal Science in 1975.
Did you know…?
It eats cacti. It rolls them along the ground with its snout to rub off the spines, and its kidneys are adapted to process the plants' acids.
Where
Hard to see in the wild. At Fortín Toledo, near Filadelfia (Boquerón), a conservation center keeps taguás in captivity (check opening hours before you go). In the wild it lives in Teniente Enciso, Médanos del Chaco and Defensores del Chaco.
Researched and reviewed in September 2026 with 4 sources. A second reviewer checked dates, coordinates and lodging. Hours and prices may change.