Javelinas–peccaries, not wild pigs–are quite common in Southern Arizona. In Tucson many live in the dry washes that thread through the City. They are seemingly comfortable living in our urban world. In fact, there is even one famous image of a javelina loping along Congress Street in downtown. And it was faster than its short legs would lead you to believe.
In the neighborhood washes, surrounded by dense stands of creosote bushes and Palo Verdes trees, they raise their cute little javelinas. But, heaven help you, if you get anywhere near the babies, the mother javelina will attack you. And she has sharp, long vicious teeth and is very dangerous.
I first learned about them shortly after I moved here when the local media warned everyone not to leave their Halloween pumpkins out overnight because the javelinas would make a feast of them on your front steps. Then, next day, they’d come back expecting more. Recurring visits from a javelina family are not a good thing.
Anyway, despite the fact that these peccaries are not the most attractive or friendly creatures I decided to adopt them as mascots for my website. Also, the fact that Barrel Cacti, Gila Monsters, Blue Belly lizards and other appealing creatures had already been taken by other blogs and websites, left me with javelinas or bats. (And Mission Garden has a lock on bats since they built that bat house.) So I picked javelinas and have given them all some glam treatment with considerable help from Adobe’s Firefly. IRL javelinas have dark brown-almost-black hair, long snouts, hoofed feet like deer, and legs that seem too delicate for their bodies. They live in extended family groups called squadrons. Each squadron has its own territory.
For your entertaining pleasure the cast of javelina characters will be changing every few days. Come back and meet more of these whimsical and eccentric Tucson creatures!
Introducing Victor Javelina, a young, energetic member of the Javelina Squadron who live in the Chuk-son desert forest. His grandfather, Javier, is the head of this extended family. Victor is proud of his ability to run fast, but it does, sometimes, get him into trouble. He has a twin sister, Lulu, who came up with this idea for a costume for Victor to wear for the April Fool’s season. He also has cousins who share adventures in their home territory. You can meet them all in the upcoming weeks.
Tucson was named a UNESCO City Of Gastronomy in 2015 honoring the city’s culinary heritage, which blends Mexican and Native American traditions. About 250 years ago Javelinas migrated into southern Arizona from Mexico. Since then they have been sneakily feasting on squash and other crops grown by the indigenous people who lived by the Santa Cruz River which runs through the middle of a place now called Tucson. Javelina Dines celebrates the food heritage of Tucson and would eat a pumpkin every day, if she could find them!
Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day — even a desert-loving Javelina mascot. Unlike others, Javelina Green does not imbibe in green colored beer or a tall glass of Guinness to celebrate. Instead, she wears the green proudly for a few days to honor Irish immigrants who brought this holiday with them to the U.S.A. And as children know: if you don’t wear green on St. Paddy’s day, you will get pinched.
Javelinas will eat almost everything, but their favorite plant is prickly pear cactus. Those spikey thorns on the pads don’t stop them: they gobble them up, thorns and all. This mama, Javelina Jams, especially loves the sweetish prickly pear fruit, red and golden ripe, she found beside a sandy desert trail. She also found a jar of prickly pear jam, an Arizona human favorite, and has already taken a taste. The rest of her squadron is nearby and will probably come join in the feast, if she and her baby don’t eat it all first.
On Presidents’ Day, 2025, Javelina Strong honors U.S. Presidents from Number One, George Washington, through the Number 44, Barack Obama and 46, Joseph Biden. Each has done his best for our country and I thank them. (As usual, Adobe’s Firefly put the wrong kind of feet on Javelina Strong. He has hooves that look similar to deer hooves.)
Javelina Wild‘s ancestors roamed the wide open spaces of Arizona for a couple of hundred years. Then, on February 14, 1912, Arizona became a State in the U.S.A. Researching statehood I learned that the southern half of the state was part of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The dividing line was the 34th parallel, which runs east to west, just north of Phoenix. After the Civil War, Congress divided the then-New Mexico Territory with a line running north and south, which is the Arizona/New Mexico border today. Javelinas have ignored it all. Happy Birthday Arizona!
Javelina Valentina wishes you all the love in the world on this Valentine’s Day, 2025. A fierce young lady, she may live with her Mother in the dry washes and riverbeds in Tucson, but she still is kind-hearted and wishes you “Happiness forever from the borderlands near Mexico”.
Say hello to Javelina Blooms. Inspired by famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo she wears flowers in her hair as she stands near the border looking across the desert lands into Mexico. She is definitely a local Arizonan with brown eyes as big as Linda Ronstadt’s.
Here is Javelina Bold who embodies the Old West cowboy culture of Arizona with his beat-up, rolled-brim Western hat and darned-fancy boots. Like a good rough-n-tumble, working cowboy he is up at dawn as the sun rises from behind the steep mountains casting light across the desert lands.
It starts with Javelina Pretty, a cowgirl from the not-so-old West in her reddish-pink rodeo hat and pink socks. While real javelinas are dark brown, hairy, hoofed creatures, Javelina Pretty has become a platinum blonde with toenails suitable for pedicures and days at the spa. She is, clearly, a new resident of Tucson. Why “clearly”? She’s a bit too glam to really be a local.
