How Some Little Fish Saved a Javelina

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This is the story about a small school of fish, no one of them longer than three-to-five inches, who one day saved the life of a baby Javelina. A baby javelina is called a kit. Americans call the fish Sonoran chubs, but the Spanish word charalitos sounds much more romantic. These fish are an endangered species, not because there are so few of them, but because their habitats are shrinking. The javelina, sometimes called the collared peccary, is known in Mexico as the jabali. It is the name that I prefer. The jabali is a small animal which looks something like a wild boar without the tusks. Jabali have sharp canine teeth which allow them to eat Prickly Pear Cactus, spines and all. I do not know what the charalitos eat. This story takes place on a small river near the Arizona-Mexico border where, one magical day, the charalitos and jabali met each other.

I know the story is true because it was told to me by my brother, Juan Sosa, who heard it from a fish and game warden who actually saw most of what happened that day. My name is Jesus Sosa, and I am the keeper of the jabali at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We have over a dozen jabali in my exhibit. The jabali like to travel in packs and are rarely alone. However, sometimes a young, inexperienced jabali will wander off, and it will take a while for the pack to notice and come back to search for him. In the wild, the jabalis roam the desert floor. My exhibit is just like the desert floor, except for a small muddy puddle of water I keep filled so the jabali can soak their bellies in it. The water is very shallow and cool. The jabali enjoy it, but they usually avoid deeper water even though they are good swimmers.

Well, that is what the story I heard is all about: a lone jabali who got stuck in a river where the charalitos live. We have charalitos here at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, but they live in an aquarium in a wall near a pond where the otters and beavers play.

Once or twice a month, before the daily visitors arrive, I take the youngest jabali down to the charalitos aquarium and let the jabali admire the fish who saved an older jabali's life. But this story is not about fish in an aquarium. The story I am about to tell you took place several years ago on a river in the wild, as I said.

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The fish and game warden's name is Carlos Ortega. I've never met him, but my brother, Juan, knows Carlos well because they play on the same men's soccer team.

One summer day, Carlos was walking along the east bank of the river which had still water along its edges but rapids in the middle because it was the monsoon season and there had been many desert thunderstorms. That brought out a few fishermen to try their luck. Carlos was walking along the bank checking their fishing licenses.

Carlos had left his patrol car parked beside a bridge a half mile upstream. The river was not very wide, but it was gradually rising with run-off from the storms. The river was dangerous to cross because of the rapids and many slippery rocks at the bottom.

Carlos Ortega stood on a bank and looked across the river to see if there were any fishermen on the other side. There weren't any, but then Carlos saw the oddest thing. An jabali kit was standing in a shallow pool of water and was shaking his body and opening and closing his mouth and not moving. Carlos knew the jabali was in trouble. The jabali was apparently stuck. Carlos took out his binoculars and looked. There was pain on the young jabali's face and the water had risen to his belly. It would soon be creeping up his sides.

There was no time to lose. Soon the jabali kit would be covered and would surely drown. So Carlos ran along the east bank. It took him 15 minutes to reach the area where the little jabali was stuck.

The rising water was up to the little jabali's neck. Just as Carlos prepared to side step down the embankment, something very strange happened.

In the still water surrounding the young jabali, a whirlpool suddenly appeared. A spiral of water circled round the jabali kit. Carlos stared at the clear water near the stuck jabali and could not believe what he saw. He saw silver flashes of many, many small fish, some of them actually clearing the water with their bodies as they spun in a whirring circle.

If that seems strange, what happened next was even stranger. Several members of the jabali pack suddenly appeared on the bank next to Carlos. They started snorting in unison as if to encourage the fish. Just when it seemed all was lost and the water was about to cover the little jabali's snout, the jabali kit yanked free and floated to the top. The little jabali quickly swam to shore and scrambled up the bank.

Carlos said the jabalis crowded round their youngest member, checking him for injuries. The little jabali was scared, but unhurt for he soon scampered away with two larger jabalis who were undoubtedly his parents.

If you think that is strange, let me tell you what Carlos told Juan about what happened next.

The third jabali walked boldly to the bank's edge and held his head high in the air. He opened his mouth and showed his large canine teeth. Then, Carlos swears, the big jabali let out a bellow that sounded like muchas gracias. That means thank-you in Spanish.

Then an even stranger thing happened. A three-inch fish leapt in an arch a foot above the river's surface and re-entered the water. Carlos Ortega, who is an expert on fish, knew that the tiny fish who had rescued the jabali were charalitos.

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My brother, Juan, refers to this event as 'the magic circle of the silver fish.' Juan tells me that Carlos Ortega's only regret is that he didn't have his VCR camera with him that day. Juan says that if Carlos did have a camera, the tape would surely be shown on that TV program about the strangest home videos.

As I said at the beginning, I believe the tale Carlos Ortega told my brother is a true one. Mexican storytellers are known to exaggerate their stories occasionally, but I believe the story about the brave charalitos is true. There is a printed description of the charalito and its habits right next to their aquarium here at the Museum. One line says that the charalitos sometimes swim in synchronized fashion. Evidently, they can swim very fast in a synchronized fashion, though I have never seen them do that. However, their aquarium here at the Museum is quite small.

This is the end of my story about a story Juan told me which he heard from Carlos Ortega. I must go now. I, Jesus Sosa, must tend to my jabalis. It is their feeding time, and it is the time I am most popular with my jabalis.

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Late at night on the very day Jesus Sosa told his story, when all the jabalis were asleep, a grandmother jabali felt a small snout rubbing against her own.

"What is it, Rodney? I was having a wonderful dream about the succulent leaves of the cactus," the matronly June Jabali said.

"I know it is very late, grandmother, but I just had a bad dream and I cannot get back to sleep."

"What was the dream about, little one?" June whispered, a note of concern in her husky voice.

"My dream was about your grandfather when he was very little, like me, and got stuck in the clear water of the big river," Rodney said in a shaken voice.

"I wish your father had never told you that story, Rodney." Rodney's father, Cortez Jabali, was snoring away no more than a yard from where June lay next to her grandson.

"Did the little fish really save great, great grandfather?"

"That is the tale that has been passed down among us, Rodney" June said gently. "I only wish your father had waited until you were older before he told it to you."

"Grandmother, I am scared of the clear water even though I've never seen any."

"If you go back to sleep now, Rodney, I will take you to the edge of our wire fence in the morning. I think you are just big enough to stretch your neck and catch a glimpse of Golden Pond where the ducks live. It is just below our home."

"Is that a promise, grandmother?"

"That's a promise, Rodney. Now please, try to get some rest and say a prayer to the Lord Father of All Jabalis that you do not have any more strange dreams."

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