Lowland Paca

Lowland Paca

The paca, also known as the Agouti paca or the lowland paca, is a large nocturnal rodent that lives in the tropical rain forest. Having a stout body covered with dark hair and four rows of white spots on each side of its body, this animal can weigh as much as 40 pounds and grow to a length of 32.5 inches. The paca also has large cheeks that help the animal make noises.

Pacas are frequently preyed on by other Amazon animals such jaguars. To avoid predators the paca uses its excellent swimming ability to flee danger. By foraging for food at night the paca attempts to make itself difficult for predators to stalk.

The pace lives in forested habitats near water, preferably smaller rivers, and digs simple burrows about six and a half feet below the surface, usually with more than one exit.

The paca is an incredible climber and searches for fruit in the trees. Its diet includes leaves, stems, roots, seeds, and fruit, especially avocados, mangos and zapotes.
This solitary-living rodents only gets with others of its kind during the mating season.

The Lowland Paca is considered an agricultural pest by farmers because it enjoys eating yams, cassava, sugar cane, corn and other food crops.

Because its meat has excellent flavor (I find it similar to fresh pork), the paca is hunted and its meat is sold at high prices.

Plentiful in protected habitats, hence not in danger of extinction, the overall paca population has decreased due to hunting and habitat destruction.

The paca is easily bred and raised on farms, although the taste of farm raised paca is thought to be highly inferior to flesh of a wild paca.

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Capybara

Capybara

The Capybara is the largest living rodent in the world. The Capybara is related to agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs. The name for the Capybara comes from Kapiÿva in the Guarani language which means "master of the grasses". The Capybara's scientific name, hydrochaeris, is Greek for "water hog".

These large rodents have heavy, barrel-shaped bodies and short heads with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of their body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Adult capybaras may grow to 4.3 ft, and weigh up to 140 lb.

Their back legs are slightly longer than their front legs, their feet are slightly webbed, they have no tail and their muzzles are blunt with eyes, nostrils, and ears on top of their head. This is an animal where the females are slightly heavier than males.

Capybaras are social animals, normally found in groups, between 10 and 30 although there have been sightings of larger groups of up to 100.

Capybara herds are controlled by a dominant male who has a prominent scent gland on his nose that he uses to smearing his scent on the grasses in his territory.)

Capybaras communicate through a combination of scent and sound, being very vocal animals with purrs and alarm barks, whistles and clicks, squeals and grunts.

The giant rodent is an excellent swimmer, with the ability to survive completely underwater for up to five minutes. They use ability to evade predators. In times of necessity and extreme danger, a Capybara can sleep underwater, keeping its nose just at the waterline.

As temperatures increase, Capybaras wallow in water to keep cool and then graze in late afternoons and early evenings. Not needing much sleep, Capybaras usually doze off and on throughout the day and graze into and through the night.

The Capybara is not considered a threatened species.

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