Central America Photo of the Month: This Is Not a Pig

The Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center outside Belize City is one of Belize's favorite animal attractions. The zoo is small enough to feel intimate, but spacious and lush enough to offer comfy habitats for its rehabilitated and donated animals. While you'll find lots of Belize animal photos in my Belize Zoo Photo Gallery, I can only choose one for this month's special Central America photo.

Although he looks (and smells!) like a pig, this Belize Zoo dweller is not actually a pig -- he's a peccary. Apparently the resemblance is superficial, not genetic. Think of him as an angrier, stinkier, hoofed and sharp-toothed evolutionary coincidence. Because this particular peccary also seemed to enjoy hamming it up (hee hee) for the camera, I made him the star of my Central America Photo of the Month. If you ever visit the Belize Zoo, maybe you'll see (and smell) him yourself. (Seriously, peccaries stink to hog heaven! All right, no more pig jokes.)