Pest Library

Characteristics

Agouti is a type of rodent that looks like a guinea pig. Their fur is coarse brown, pale orange to almost-black.

Other features of this animal include:

• Very short and small tail
• Rounded ears
• Large head and rump
• Slender legs
• Hind feet have three toes while the two at the back have 5 toes
• 16 to 24 inches long
• Tail is 1 inch in length

Habitat

Agoutis are widely distributed in undisturbed dried and wet evergreen forests. These rodents are found in the Central and South America and resides in savannas, grasslands, tropical rainforests, and so on.

Behavior

Most of the day of the agouti is spent searching for food or swimming in a pool of water nearby. When they are in their burrows, they will usually rest or just hide from predators. Agoutis have sharp ears, and a great sense of smell, which helps them prepare a great escape from those that might harm them.

To camouflage, an agouti may just simply freeze when a predator is around. They can also warn others that predators are coming through the creation of an alarm call. To defend themselves, they may just simply stomp their feet or just raise their long hairs on their rumps to scare their predator. To escape, they will run very fast and may even jump as long as 6 feet to get away from danger.

These rodents are important to the ecology of forests since they aid in dispersing seeds around the forest. They can be considered great gardeners of the forest because they have the behavior of burying seeds in their territory for future consumption. However, when they do not return to these seeds, their forgotten seeds will soon become trees.

Food

Agoutis are plant eaters or herbivores. Their chosen diet includes fruits, seeds, nuts, roots, leaves, and the likes. They love to feed on fallen fruits. When they pick up and eat fruits or nuts, they will hold their food using their two front feet, similar to a squirrel.

Life Cycle

Unlike other rodents, agoutis prefer to only have one partner throughout their lifetime. They are monogamous creatures and will stick together to create and raise their babies. They do not have a specific mating season because they can mate all year round.

Gestation period for a female agouti lasts for three months. Once the babies are born, which may consist of 1 to 2 agoutis that resemble their parents, they will stay with their parents until the next litter comes. When these babies are born, they will come out as well-developed young. They are able to see at birth, may eat leaves an hour after birth, and will be able to sense danger when predators are around. To hide from predators, newly born agoutis will freeze to hide. Agoutis can live for six years in the wild, but can live for up to 20 years when they are in captivity.

Other Information and Tips

Agoutis are marvelous, intelligent creatures. They are great escape artists, especially that they have a lot of predators that want to eat them, including humans. They are not considered pests and will happily live in their natural habitat together with their family.

Photo: Central American agouti by Geoff Gallice, used under CC BY 2.0 / resized from original