Red-rumped Agouti

The red-rumped agouti is an agouti, a member of the family Dasyproctidae, native to northeastern South America, mainly Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and northeastern Brazil, along with Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Lucia. It lives in a wide range of forests, including rainforest and secondary forest. Weighing about 3 to 6 kilograms and measuring 48 to 64 cm, it is brownish with darker spots on the upper body, and its fur turns more orange toward the rear. Its diet is mostly seeds, pulp, leaves, roots and fruits, with insect larvae added when plant food is scarce. It lives in pairs or family groups and needs large areas for food, breeding and territory.

About the red-rumped agouti

The red-rumped agouti is a large, long-legged rodent in the agouti family, Dasyproctidae, native to the forests of northeastern South America and a few Caribbean islands. It is related to guinea pigs and looks quite similar, but it is larger and has longer legs. It is also called the golden-rumped, orange-rumped or Brazilian agouti.

Agoutis make up the genus Dasyprocta, which holds about a dozen species found from Central America through northern and central South America. The red-rumped agouti, Dasyprocta leporina, is one of them. Despite the name "Brazilian agouti," it is neither the only nor the most widespread agouti in Brazil, where all agoutis tend to be called "cutia." The word agouti itself comes from the Guarani or Tupi word akuti.

The red-rumped agouti weighs about 3–6 kg (6.6–13.2 lb) and measures about 48–64 cm (19–25 in) long. Females are larger than males but otherwise look the same. The upper body is brownish with darker speckling, and the fur turns more orange toward the rump, which gives the species its name and sets it apart from other agoutis.

Like other agoutis, it has long legs, a very short, hairless tail and coarse fur that it raises when alarmed. Its ears are somewhat square. The front feet have four toes and the hind feet three. Agouti fur can look glossy and shimmer orange in the light.

Behavior and diet

The red-rumped agouti eats mostly seeds, fruit pulp, leaves, roots and fruit. When plant food runs short, it also eats insect larvae. Agoutis in general eat fallen fruit and sometimes climb trees for green fruit, and they have been recorded eating the eggs of ground-nesting birds and even shellfish on the shore.

Agoutis feed sitting up on their hind legs, holding food between their forepaws, and they may gather in groups of up to 100 at a good food source. They hoard food in small, buried stores. The red-rumped agouti also spreads seeds: it is known to eat and spread the seeds of Astrocaryum aculeatissimum and Hymenaea courbaril.

Their teeth and jaws are powerful. Agoutis are one of the few animals, along with macaws, that can open Brazil nuts without tools, thanks to their strength and very sharp teeth. In farm areas they can damage sugarcane and banana crops.

Red-rumped agoutis live in pairs or family groups made up of the parents and their young. They need large areas for food, breeding and territory, which makes them difficult to keep in captivity. Agoutis are shy in the wild and flee from people, though captive animals can become trusting. Reports differ on whether agoutis are mainly diurnal or nocturnal; at night they shelter in hollow trunks or burrows among tree roots.

These are quick, agile animals. Agoutis move at a trot or in a rapid series of springs that looks like a gallop, and in Trinidad they are known for running so fast that they can keep hunting dogs chasing them for hours. They also take readily to water and swim well.

The red-rumped agouti has no set breeding season. Females come into season twice a year and usually have one to four young after a gestation of 104–120 days. On average, the young are weaned at about 20 weeks.

Across the genus, pups are born in burrows lined with leaves, roots and hair. They are well developed at birth and can be up and eating within an hour. Fathers are kept away from the nest while the young are very small, but agouti parents pair-bond for life. Red-rumped agoutis live 15–20 years in captivity, a long life for a rodent.

Range and habitat

The red-rumped agouti is native to northeastern South America, mainly Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and northeastern Brazil, along with Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Lucia in the Caribbean. It has been introduced to Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grenada and Dominica.

It lives in a wide range of forests, including rainforest and secondary forest that is regrowing after clearing. Agoutis as a group also use savannas and cultivated fields, and at night they hide in hollow tree trunks or in burrows among roots.

Conservation status

The red-rumped agouti is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, in a 2016 assessment by L. Emmons and F. Reid. That means it is not currently considered at risk of extinction across its range, which covers several countries of northeastern South America and parts of the Caribbean.