(Platygonus compressus)
The Flat-headed Peccary skull is a combination of formidable defensive and offensive teeth, bony protection from other such teeth, an enhanced nasal area and a battery of generalized browsing cheek teeth. The major defensive weapon of this North American relative of the Old World pig is the lower canine tooth. It maintains a razor-sharp cutting edge by the constant shearing against the upper canine. The large, flaring cheekbones and the "buttresses" of the upper jaw, which cover the lower canine tooth, protect vital areas against the canines of other peccaries. The extensively developed nasal area-relative to brain size-may have warmed and filtered cool and dusty air in glacial, recently de-glaciated and open environments.
As the most numerous medium-sized mammals in the North American Ice Age, the Flat-headed Peccary is thought to have inhabited a number of different environments throughout the continental United States, but likely flourished in open forest habitats. This fleet-footed mammal was probably extinct at least 11,000 years ago, if not before. The species was first recognized by a distinctive skull recovered from a Kentucky cave in 1804 or 1805. No individual remains have been discovered on early archaeological sites. When Flat-headed Peccary remains are found, they are usually accumulations of several individuals. The largest known "herd" is from Megenity Peccary cave in Crawford County, Indiana, where recent excavations by the Indiana State Museum have recovered fragments of over 500 individuals.
Of the numerous individuals recovered from the Indiana cave, only one skull was preserved intact. Although the skull of a living peccary reacts to and endures a variety of forces daily, an isolated skull is quite delicate. Lack of rapid burial, as well as flowing and seeping water and the actions of animals accelerate the disintegration of skulls and other bones in the cave. The presence of all age classes (juveniles, sub-adults and adults) and a wide range of radiocarbon dates (50,700 - 23,220 years before present) indicate the cave was used by animals as a shelter for thousands of years.