Central American Agouti

One of the mammals you’re likely to see fairly frequently around Better in Belize is the Central American agouti (uh-GOO-tee). Locals call it guatusa (wa-TOO-suh). It’s out and about in the daytime, and feeds on roots, leaves, fruit and nuts, and sometimes the eggs of ground-nesting birds. A healthy jungle depends on agoutis to disperse seeds of nuts and fruits away from the parent trees. Agoutis range from Mexico through Central America and to Brazil in South America, and have been introduced to several islands in the West Indies.

At first glance, you might mistake an agouti for a short-eared rabbit, because it’s about the same size and has the typical rounded back of a rabbit. But it’s more closely related to guinea pigs – you can see the similarities once you know that – and it’s bigger than a bunny (15″- 25″ in length) and with longer legs, weighing in at 5-13 pounds. You can’t really see the short, hairless tail. Or rather, let’s say I’VE never seen it. I thought agoutis were tailless until I started researching for this post. The ears are very thin, and when an agouti is in sunlight, the light shining through its ears makes them glow bright red. It’s definitely eye-catching. More information here.  

Oddly, the agouti has five toes on its front feet but only three on its back feet. Being a ground dweller, it can run at high speed, ducking through the underbrush on tippy-toes. It can make a six foot leap from a standing position. Normally, an agouti is a quiet animal, counting on stealth and sharp ears to stay safe. However, I once surprised one burying some surplus nuts next to a hiking trail in Costa Rica , and it gave a hideously loud squawk of fright that almost gave me a heart attack as it crashed off through the forest.

There is another animal at BIB that is sometimes erroneously called an agouti. It’s the paca, or gibnut, which is similar in looks but quite a bit larger than an agouti and with dotted white lines along its sides. You can see the difference here.