Reproduction and productivity of white-lipped and collared peccaries in the Peruvian Amazon Nicole Gottdenker 1 * and Richard E. Bodmer 2 1 Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, 303 Newins-Ziegler Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, U.S.A. 2 Program for Studies in Tropical Conservation, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation and Tropical Conservation & Development Program, Center for Latin American Studies, 304 Grinter Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, U.S.A. (Accepted 20 November 1997) Abstract White-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) and collared peccaries (Tayassu tajacu) are common ungulates of Amazonia that are integral to the ecosystem and are important sources of meat for local people. Information on the reproduction and productivity of peccaries is essential for implementing management practices that conserve peccary populations over short and long time-scales. This paper examines the reproductive biology of white-lipped and collared peccaries in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon in and around the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Community Reserve. Skulls and reproductive tracts of white-lipped and collared peccary were examined from hunted samples collected by local people, as part of a participatory wildlife management programme. In this Amazonian site both white-lipped and collared peccaries were in follicular and luteal stages year round. Similarly, conceptions, births and pregnancies were aseasonal for both species. Of white-lipped peccary females, 32.4% were pregnant (n= 219 adult females examined) compared with 46% of collared peccary females (n= 89 adult females examined). Overall, gross produc- tivity was 0.53 foetuses/adult female for white-lipped peccaries and 0.89 foetuses/adult female for collared peccaries. Gross fecundity (number of female young produced/number of adult females) was 0.26 for white-lipped peccaries and 0.37 for collared peccaries. The estimated parturition±conception interval was 250 days (192±331 at the 90% con®dence interval) for white-lipped peccaries and 129 days (80±205 at the 90% con®dence interval) for collared peccaries. This study shows that reproductive productivity of white- lipped peccary is lower than collared peccary in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon. This difference in reproductive productivity has implications for management strategies, and suggests that white-lipped peccaries are more susceptible to the effects of hunting than collared peccaries. Key words: Tayassu pecari, Tayassu tajacu, reproduction, Amazonian ecosystem INTRODUCTION White-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari ) and collared peccaries (Tayassu tajacu) are integral components of intact Amazonian ecosystems. Peccaries are also impor- tant for rural inhabitants of Amazonia and are commonly used as subsistence food and for market sales (Bodmer et al., 1994). The conservation and continued human use of peccaries requires sustainable harvests, which means hunting should not deplete peccary popu- lations over short and long time-scales. To attain sustainable use of peccaries it is necessary to understand their life history parameters. Knowledge of life history characteristics of a species is important to understand the dynamics of wildlife populations (Gotelli, 1995) and to measure the responses and resi- lience of these populations to human disturbance, such as hunting. By de®nition, an animal's lifetime pattern of reproduction is part of its life history (Begon, Harper & Townsend, 1990). Descriptions of the overall and age- speci®c productivity of a population (Caughley, 1977) and temporal patterns of reproduction are essential components of life history parameters. The reproductive biology of white-lipped and collared peccaries inhabiting the Amazon regions is poorly known. Previous studies have examined collared peccary reproduction in the southwestern U.S.A. (Low, 1970; Sowls, 1984, 1997; Hellgren et al., 1995) and in French Guyana (Henry, 1994). The reproduction of the white-lipped peccary has not been studied thoroughly in any part of its geographic range. Studies of peccary reproduction are needed from a *Present address: Department of Pathology, Wildlife Health Centre, The Wildlife Conservation Society, 185th Street and Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460, U.S.A. J. Zool., Lond. (1998) 245, 423±430 # 1998 The Zoological Society of London Printed in the United Kingdom