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Peccaries and coatis are thought to be the agouti's primary competitors for food with squirrels, opossums, spiny rats, and tapirs also competing but to a lesser extent.
It is important to note that the animals with the common name "agouti" such as the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) are not the same as those with the scientific name Agouti (family, Agoutidae).
Odors play an important role in agouti communication. Both males and females posses anal scent glands used to mark various structures of the environment (Smythe 1978). Agouti also have good vision, hearing, and use tactile communication through grooming.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: scent marks
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
In some areas agouti populations have greatly declined because of both hunting and habitat destruction.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: appendix iii
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
There are no negative impacts of agouti on humans.
Agoutis are commonly hunted in their range by humans a a source of food. As mentioned before, D. punctata is thought to contribute largely to seed dispersal of many types of fruiting trees. Agoutis are also easily tamed and make very affectionate pets.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; food
Agouti are important prey animals for medium to large predators, such as eagles and jaguars. Agouti are also important in facilitating the regeneration of tropical fruit-bearing trees through their seed caching activities.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Agoutis mainly feed on fruits and, on their daily excursions, look for fruit-bearing trees (Grzimek 1990). It has been recorded that agoutis are able to hear fruit falling from trees from far away, and the sound of ripe fruit hitting the ground attracts them (Grzimek 1990). When food is abundant, they carefully bury seeds to use as food when fruit is scarce or not in season. This behavior is important in the dispersal of the seeds of many species of forest trees (Macdonald 1984). Individuals often follow bands of monkeys and pick up fruit dropped from trees (Smythe 1978). Dasyprocta punctata also sometimes browsed and ate crabs, vegetables and other succulent plants (Nowak 1999). Agoutis feed by sitting on their hind legs and holding their food in their forepaws. They then turn the fruit around several times while peeling it with their teeth. If there are any remaining parts of the fruit not eaten at the end of meal time, they are buried.
Animal Foods: aquatic crustaceans
Plant Foods: leaves; roots and tubers; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Foraging Behavior: stores or caches food
Primary Diet: herbivore (Frugivore )
Dasyprocta punctata, commonly known as Central American agoutis, is found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, and has been introduced to the Cayman Islands.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Introduced , Native )
Central American agoutis are found in forests, thick brush, savannas, and cultivated areas. In Peru, they are confined to the Amazonian region where they are found in all parts of the low selva rainforest zone and many parts of the high selva zone (altitudes of up to 2,000 meters) (Nowak 1999). Agoutis are closely associated with water and often found along the banks of streams, rivers and lakes. They often build dens and numerous sleeping spots in hollow logs, among limestone boulders, under roots of trees or other vegetation.
Habitat Regions: tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural ; riparian
There is little information on lifespan in agoutis.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 10.0 years.
The coat ranges from pale orange to several shades of brown or blackish dorsally, and yellowish to white ventrally. The rump is a contrasting color. In some individuals inconspicuous stripes may be present. The fur of the agouti is course yet glossy. The hairs increase in length from the anterior to the posterior part of the body. The body length ranges from 415-620 mm and the tail is 10-35 mm. The weight ranges from 1.3-4.0 kg. The body form of the Central American agouti is slender. They have short ears, and the hind foot has three toes with hoof-like claws (Nowak 1999). Females have four pairs of ventral mammae (Nowak 1999).
Range mass: 1.000 to 4.000 kg.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Agouti are preyed on by medium to large predators throughout their range, including humans. They avoid predation by being alert and agile in dense undergrowth.
Central American agoutis are monogamous. During courtship, the male sprays the female with urine, which causes her to go into a "frenzy dance." After several sprays she allows the male to approach (Smythe 1978).
Mating System: monogamous
Central American agoutis breed throughout the year, but the majority of the young are born during the time of year when fruit is most plentiful between March and July. Individuals in some populations of agoutis mate twice a year.
The gestation period is 104-120 days. A litter normally contains two young, though there are sometimes three and four young have been recorded in captivity.
Breeding interval: Breeding interval is determined by fruit abundance.
Breeding season: Populations typically breed throughout the year.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 4.
Average number of offspring: 1.9.
Range gestation period: 90 to 126 days.
Average weaning age: 140 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; year-round breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); viviparous
Average birth mass: 22.7 g.
Average number of offspring: 2.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 487 days.
The females dig caves for their young or bring them to old lairs they constructed usually located in hollow logs, among tree roots, or under tangled vegetation. The dens often exactly match the size of the young (Grzimek 1990). As the offspring grow, the mother relocates the litter to a larger den. The female has its own den apart from the young.
The newborn are fully furred, their eyes are open, and they are able to run in their first hour of life (Smythe 1978).
The mother usually nurses for 20 weeks. Offspring become completely separated from the mother upon the arrival of a new litter, because of parental aggression, or due to lack of food. Young born during the fruiting season have a substantially greater chance of surviving than those born during the off season.
Parental Investment: precocial ; female parental care
The Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) is a species of agouti from the family Dasyproctidae.[2] The main portion of its range is from Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula (southern Mexico), through Central America, to northwestern Ecuador, Colombia and far western Venezuela. A highly disjunct population is found in southeastern Peru, far southwestern Brazil, Bolivia, western Paraguay and far northwestern Argentina. The disjunct population has been treated as a separate species, the brown agouti (Dasyprocta variegata),[3] but a major review of the geographic variation is necessary.[2] The Central American agouti has also been introduced to Cuba and the Cayman Islands.[2][4]
Though some populations are reduced due to hunting and deforestation, large populations remain[3] and it is not considered threatened.[1]
In an analysis of 240 species, agoutis came in fourth place for best sense of smell; better than dogs, which actually came out average. Their snouts are packed full of olfactory receptors.[5]
Central American agoutis from the main part of their range weigh 3–4.2 kg (6.6–9.3 lb) and are typically reddish, orange or yellowish grizzled with black.[3][6] In northern Colombia, western Venezuela, and on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica and Panama the foreparts are brownish or blackish grizzled with tawny or olivaceous, the mid-body is orange, and the rump is black or cream.[3][6] In western Colombia and Ecuador some have tawny foreparts and yellowish to the rump.[3] Agoutis from the disjunct southern population (Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina) which sometimes are treated as a separate species, Dasyprocta variegata, weigh 3–5.2 kg (6.6–11.5 lb) and are grizzled brown, yellowish and black, or grizzled black and orange.[3]
Like other agoutis, Central American agoutis are diurnal and live in monogamous pairs.[6] They mainly feed on fruits and seeds, and are important seed dispersers.[7]
The Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) is a species of agouti from the family Dasyproctidae. The main portion of its range is from Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula (southern Mexico), through Central America, to northwestern Ecuador, Colombia and far western Venezuela. A highly disjunct population is found in southeastern Peru, far southwestern Brazil, Bolivia, western Paraguay and far northwestern Argentina. The disjunct population has been treated as a separate species, the brown agouti (Dasyprocta variegata), but a major review of the geographic variation is necessary. The Central American agouti has also been introduced to Cuba and the Cayman Islands.
Though some populations are reduced due to hunting and deforestation, large populations remain and it is not considered threatened.
In an analysis of 240 species, agoutis came in fourth place for best sense of smell; better than dogs, which actually came out average. Their snouts are packed full of olfactory receptors.
