우제류/소목(Artiodactyla)

돼지아목

페커리과(Tayassuidae)

Platygonus is an extinct genus of herbivorous peccary of the family Tayassuidae, endemic to North America from the Miocene through Pleistocene epochs (10.3 mya—11,000 years ago), existing for approximately 10.289 million years.

Platygonus was a gregarious animal and, like modern peccaries, possibly traveled in packs. It ranged from southern Canada to Mexico and from California to Pennsylvania. Stratigraphically, it occurs throughout the Pleistocene (Calabrian), and as early as the Blancan in the Gelasian of the Pliocene.

Platygonus was named by Leconte (1848). It was assigned to Tayassuidae by Le Conte (1848), Hoare et al. (1964) and Carroll (1988).

Platygonus was larger than modern peccaries, at around 1 metre (3.3 ft) in body length, and had long legs, allowing it to run well. It also had a pig-like snout and long, carnivore-like tusks which were probably used to fend off predators. It had a complex digestive system, similar to that of a modern ruminant.