'''Platygonus''' is an extinct genus of peccary.
''Platygonus'' was 1 m (3 ft 4 in) long (bigger than modern peccaries) and had long legs, making it a good runner. It also had a
pig-like snout and long, carnivore-like
tusks which were probably used to fend off predators. ''Platygonus's
digestive system was very complicated, looking more like that of a
ruminant.
Platygonus was a gregarious animal and like modern peccaries, traveled in packs. It ranged from southern Canada to Mexico and California to Pennsylvania. Stratigraphically, it occurs throughout the
Pleistocene (
Calabrian), and as early as the
Blancan in the
Gelasian of the
Pliocene.
References
★ Wagner, George (1903) "Observations on Platygonus Compressus Leconte" ''The Journal of Geology'' University of Chicago. Dept. of Geology and Paleontology, University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, 11: pp. 777-782;
★ Hoare, Richard D. et al. (May 1964) "Pleistocene Peccary Platygonus Compressus Leconte from Sandusky County, Ohio" ''The Ohio Journal of Science'' 64(3): pp. 207-214;
★ Ray, Clayton E.; Denny, Charles S. and Rubin, Meyer (January 1970) "A peccary, Platygonus Compressus LeConte, from drift of Wisconsian age in Northern Pennsylvania" ''The American Journal of Science'' Yale University 268: pp.78-94;
★ Wilson, Ronald C.; Guilday, John E. and Branstetter, John A. (October 1975) "Extinct Peccary (Platygonus compressus LeConte) From a Central Kentucky Cave" ''The NSS Bulletin'' 37(4): pp. 83-87;
★ Kurtén, Björn; and Anderson, Elaine (1980) ''Pleistocene Mammals of North America'' Columbia University Press, New York ISBN 0-231-03733-3 ;
★ Murray, Lyndon K. et al. (September 2005) "Late Pleistocene Fauna from the Southern Colorado Plateau, Navajo County, Arizona" ''The Southwestern Naturalist'' 50(3): pp. 363–374;