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Andrew Forestall, age 11, of Fredericton, N.B., Canada, for his question:


WHAT IS AN AGOUTI?

Various agoutis belong to the forested regions of Central and South America. They range from Mexico southward to Peru, and at least one species is at home in the West Indies. They are large members of the toothy rodents clan, though quite unlike their pesty cousins, the rats and mice.

As he squats there, daintily munching a fallen fruit, you might mistake the average agouti for an oversize guinea pig. But when he takes off, you notice that he has long, slender legs with slim toes that have hard claws, somewhat like miniature hooves. He has no tail, and his 20 inch body is as patchy as a pinto pony.

    The basic color of his coarse hair is dark or tawny brown, depending on his species. His underside is paler, and there is a large patch of golden yellow or bright orange, white or black on his rump, where the hair is longer. His nose is long and pointed, and his little leafy ears are tinted with pink.

The agouti is at home on the forest floor, where some experts suspect that he used to hunt by day. He may have become suspicious of humans, who hunt him for meat. In any case, he now dozes through the day in a hollow tree or a shallow burrow. Sometimes he shares his burrow with a friend and covers the top with a clever lattice of leaves and twigs.

He comes forth to forage at dusk and early dawn and sometimes hunts through the night. He gathers leaves and tender greenery, digs up roots and pounces on fallen fruit. From time to time he squats down on his fat haunches to dine, holding the food and peeling the fruit with his dainty hands.

His native woods are patrolled by ocelots and jaguars, hungry for agouti meat. When trouble approaches, he freezes with feet flat for a giant leap and a fast getaway. He takes off at top speed, twisting around obstacles and shrieking at the top of his voice. When he reaches a stream, he may leap 20 feet to cross it, or he may swim to safety.

The female agouti bears a litter of two to six in May and perhaps another brood in October. The gestation period is about three months, so the baby agoutis are well developed and ready to go. For a few days, the mother keeps the father away from the nest. In just a few weeks the youngsters are ready to leave home and make their own way in the world.

 

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