They're small, but they aren't dainty. They're not exactly pretty. And they definitely stink.

The javelina is the New World answer to the pig. And it's one of the distinctive creatures of the American Southwest.

Rugged, wary but sociable with its own kind, the javelina is a true West Texas native.

Javelinas aren't pigs – they're peccaries. Distant relatives of Old World hogs and boars, and of hippos, peccaries evolved in the Americas. They're a distinct family of hoofed mammals.

Edna Flores is a ranger at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Visitors often report baffling encounters with wild, piglike creatures. It's part of Flores' job to set them straight.

“A lot of times ...