why is there such confusion in south texas regarding wild hogs and javelinas

Question

Wild razorback hogs are vicious and hunted, they have a leather shield around their shoulder that gets tougher with age and numerous fights, They were brought here from Europe, Asia, and North Africa for sport hunting, The Collared peccary is a native American mammal from a totally separate mammalian family, So why are both called javelinas? and by the way what is a taquache? I thought it was an armadillo, but the dictionary calls it an armadillo in Spanish.

Answer 1

I don't know if this "confusion" is particular to South Texas or even all of Texas (I live in North Texas myself, but I doubt your average new Yorker would be able to explain the difference between these creatures).

If it looks like Pumba, I call it a warthog in English, un javalí in Spanish. And I run away from it. I don't stick around to ask it if it's native to the area or was brought here from Europe, Asia and North Africa.

Then again, I also use "mouse" and "rat" interchangeably. I guess that's what happens when folk move to the city.

Answer 2

The correct spelling is jabalí.

Answer 3

Even a domestic hog or sow can be pretty nasty & big. Not those cute little pink piglets that you think of..

Answer 4

Thanks for the 'lead' I am writing something and researched these ranches where people spend big money to go wild boar hunting, in South Texas. I found out the wild boar was brought to this country for sport hunting, the collared peccary is a native of the Americas and grows to only around 30 lbs, and is not considered a pig. whereas the wild boar has mated with other feral hogs, and boar/feral crosses, so now a vicious 300 + lb creature has been hybirdized, It lives on crops of watermelon, cantaloupes and fawn and cabrito kids, A hunter is always advised to be prepared to fight to the death if he gets attacked, The difference in these hogs is that the farm animal is castrated to make him meaty and fatty , and the feral hog i s uncastrated,

Answer 5

Your question led me to this, interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razorback
taquache seems to be tlacuache meaning opposum
This is what I got when I did a search
look here

Tanswiki:Tlacuache - Wiktionary
Picture of a taquache. This word cannot be found in most Spanish/English dictionaries. However, it is commonly used in Spanish language to describe the ...
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Transwiki:Tlacuache