Anthropologist Adam Johnson has studied how people and javelinas can live near each other in Texas. His book, "Living with Javelinas: Multispecies Conviviality in Texas," is scheduled for publication by UT Press on October 20.
Johnson said he wanted to document cases where people and wildlife get along, not only conflicts. Texans' views of javelinas vary, and some see the animals as dangerous. Johnson studied javelina hunters and found a frank respect for the animals.
At the Rio Grande Village campground in Big Bend National Park, Johnson found a steady balance between javelinas and visitors. The animals largely ignore campers, and visitors are asked to admire them but not feed them. Outside park boundaries, javelinas behave differently around people, and the same animals may flee a person within the park's backcountry.