Dasyproctidae is a family of large South American rodents, comprising the agoutis and acouchis. Their fur is a reddish or dark colour above, with a paler underside. They are herbivorous, often feeding on ripe fruit that falls from trees. They live in burrows, and, like squirrels, will bury some of their food for later use.
The pacarana is a rare and slow-moving hystricognath rodent indigenous to South America. Native Tupi people call it the pacarana because it is superficially similar to the paca, a different rodent which is not in the same family. The pacarana has a chunky body and is large for a rodent, weighing up to 15 kg (33 lb) and measuring up to 79 cm in length, not including the thick, furry tail.
The lowland paca, also known as the spotted paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from east-central Mexico to northern Argentina, and has been introduced to Cuba and Algeria.
The agouti or common agouti is many of several rodent species of the genus Dasyprocta. They are native to Middle America, northern and central South America, and the southern Lesser Antilles. Some species have also been introduced elsewhere in the West Indies. They are related to guinea pigs and look quite similar, but they are larger and have longer legs. The species vary considerably in colour, being brown, reddish, dull orange, greyish, or blackish, but typically with lighter underparts. Their bodies are covered with coarse hair, which is raised when alarmed. They weigh 2.4–6 kg (5.3–13.2 lb) and are 40.5–76 cm (15.9–29.9 in) in length, with short, hairless tails.
A paca is a member of the genus Cuniculus of ground-dwelling, herbivorous rodents in South and Central America. It is the only genus in the family Cuniculidae. Pacas are large rodents with dots and stripes on their sides, short ears, and barely visible tails. Pacas are eaten by people in Belize, where they are known as "gibnut" and, having been served to Queen Elizabeth II, "the royal rat". In the Amazon basin they are known as "majás". In Guyanese English, it is known as labba from Arawak.
The Llanos is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome.
Caviomorpha is the rodent parvorder that unites all New World hystricognaths. It is supported by both fossil and molecular evidence. The Caviomorpha was for a time considered to be a separate order outside the Rodentia, but is now accepted as a genuine part of the rodents. Caviomorphs include the extinct Heptaxodontidae, the extinct Josephoartigasia monesi and extant families of chinchilla rats, hutias, guinea pigs and the capybara, chinchillas and viscachas, tuco-tucos, agoutis, pacas, pacaranas, spiny rats, New World porcupines, coypu and octodonts.
The Hystricognathi are an infraorder of rodents, distinguished from other rodents by the bone structure of their skulls. The masseter medialis passes partially through a hole below each eye socket and connects to the bone on the opposite side. This, together with their lack of an infraorbital plate and the relative size of the infraorbital foramen, distinguishes hystricognaths from other rodent groups.
Hystricomorpha is a term referring to families and orders of rodents which has had many definitions throughout its history. In the broadest sense, it refers to any rodent with a hystricomorphous zygomasseteric system. This includes the Hystricognathi, Ctenodactylidae, Anomaluridae, and Pedetidae. Molecular and morphological results suggest the inclusion of the Anomaluridae and Pedetidae in Hystricomorpha may be suspect. Based on Carleton & Musser 2005, these two families are discussed here as representing a distinct suborder Anomaluromorpha.
The Mexican volcano mouse is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae endemic to high elevation areas of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.
The Colombian rice rat, also known as the white-footed Handley's mouse is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae occurring only in Colombia. It was previously included in Oryzomys, but closely resembles the dusky montane rat, and accordingly both species were placed in the new genus Handleyomys in 2002.
The Talas tuco-tuco is a species of tuco-tuco endemic to eastern Argentina.
The white-tailed olalla rat is a species of rodent in the family Echimyidae. It is endemic to Colombia where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The cinnamon-colored Oldfield mouse, also called the "cinnamon-colored Thomasomys", is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is present in the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes from north central Ecuador to southern Colombia, at elevations from 2,400 to 3,800 m. It has terrestrial habits, and has been found in cloud forest and mossy areas. It was formerly considered a subspecies of T. gracilis.
The Andean porcupine or Quichua porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in the Andes of northern Ecuador and Colombia as well as in Panama. This porcupine is little known, but is probably arboreal, nocturnal and solitary like its relatives. The species is thought to be uncommon to rare and the population decreasing. It is threatened by deforestation, habitat fragmentation and agriculture.
The Tamá Massif is a group of mountains on the border between Colombia and Venezuela to the south of Lake Maracaibo. It contains evergreen rainforest and cloud forest at the lower levels, and páramos at the highest levels.
The Magdalena Valley montane forests (NT0136) is an ecoregion in the Andes mountains of central Colombia.
Louise H. Emmons is an American zoologist who studies tropical rainforest mammals, especially rodents. She has conducted fieldwork in Gabon, Sabah (Borneo), Peru, and Bolivia. Her best known work is the field guide, Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: A Field Guide, first published in 1990, with a second edition in 1997.
