Species Fact Profile: Brazilian Agouti (Dasyprocta leporina)

                                                             Brazilian (Red-Rumped) Agouti

                                                        Dasyprocta leporina (Linnaeus, 1758)

Range: Northeastern South America – French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, portions of Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil.  Also native to Trinidad and Tobago.  

Habitat: Tropical Forest (Primary and Secondary), Scrubland, Wet Savannahs.

Diet: Nuts, Seeds, Fruits, Roots, and Leaves

Social Grouping: Pairs, sometimes accompanied by offspring

Reproduction: Pairs are monogamous, probably for life, and are capable of breeding year round.  Courtship consists of the male spraying the female with urine repeatedly.   Females give birth to 1-4 young after a gestation of about 120 days.  Young are born fully-furred with their eyes open and are capable of running within an hour of birth.  Young are capable of feeding themselves shortly after birth, but may nurse for up to 20 weeks.  Mature at 6 months, both males and females in zoos have been documented as breeding at under one year of age, though usually they start later than that

Lifespan: 8-12 Years (Wild), 15-20 Years (Zoo)

      Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern

• Body length 49-64 centimeters, tail length 6 centimeters.  Weigh 3-6 kilograms.  Females typically larger than males.  The ears are small and rounded, the legs are long and thin.  There are four toes on each of the front feet, but only three toes on the back feet, terminating in hoof-like claws, which enable them to run quickly.
• Coarse, glossy fur is greenish-brown, red or orange on the backside (this species is also known as the red-rumped or golden-rumped agouti), orange-brown underside with a whitish stripe running down the center
•  They will follow troops of monkeys through the forest, feeding on pieces of fruit that they drop.    Will opportunistically eat insect larva
•  Especially well known for eating Brazil nuts, burying the nuts to dig up later when food is scarce.  They are important seed dispersers, being one of the only animals in their habitat that can crack open the shells of the Brazil nut, which may rely heavily upon agoutis for seed dispersal
• Dig burrows along riverbanks or among boulders and tree roots.  Maintain several shelters in their range, such as hollow logs and caves, with well-defined pathways linking their burrows.  Often found near water and are excellent swimmers.  Can jump almost 2 meters vertically.
• Usually sleep and feed alone, but they may forage together to keep watch for danger, warning one another with distress calls (resembles the barking of a small dog) and foot stamping
• Predators include jaguars, pumas, ocelots, snakes, and raptorial birds.  Primarily diurnal, but have become nocturnal in areas where they are heavily hunted by humans
• Genus name translates to “Furry Rump.”  Species name translate to “Resembling a Hare”
• Overall population is stable, but some populations may be in decline due to heavy hunting for food.  As long as there is sufficient cover to hide in, populations are able to persist even in disturbed habitats.  Sometimes hunted as an agricultural pest
• They have been introduced to Dominica, Grenada, and the US Virgin Islands