Agouti,Profile,Latest News,Photos

Agouti

Agouti refers to a number of species of Central and South American rodents, whose fur contains a pattern of pigmentation in which individual hairs have several bands of light and dark pigment with black tips.It can also
be used to describe a similar multi-coloured coat in animals such as cats and goats.

Agoutis are generally wary, and most species are difficult to see or approach in their native habitats. They walk, trot, or gallop on their digits, traveling swiftly when pursued or threatened, and are capable of leaping vertically to 2 metres (6.5 feet) from a standing position. Agoutis are terrestrial, denning at night in burrows among boulders, tree roots, hollow logs, or brushy tangles on the forest floor.

Although litters of up to four young have been recorded, two is usual. The agouti’s diet consists primarily of fruit, nuts, and seeds, but some species also eat fungi, flowers, leaves, and insects. They bury nuts in the ground for times when food becomes scarce, and, as a result, agoutis are one of the most important mammalian seed dispersers for many species of tropical trees (see Sidebar: No Rainforest, No Brazil Nuts).

All agouti species are intensively hunted because their flesh is prized as food by indigenous peoples. Agoutis are found from southern Mexico southward to Ecuador and east of the Andes throughout the Amazon River basin. Although most agouti species live in lowland and montane tropical rainforests, Azara’s agouti (Dasyprocta azarae) also inhabits the drier cerrado (savanna and scrub) and chaco environments south of the Amazon basin into Paraguay and northeastern Argentina. Three different agoutis have been introduced into the West Indies, presumably by native Caribbean tribes: D. mexicana in Cuba, D. punctata in Cuba and the Cayman Islands, and D. leporina, the Brazilian agouti, in the Virgin Islands and the Lesser Antilles.

 Agouti

Agouti

 Agouti

 Agouti