The pacarana (Dinomys branickii ) is a rare and slow-moving hystricognath rodent indigenous to South America. Native Tupi people call it the pacarana (false paca) 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 (31 in) in length, not including the thick, furry tail.
The pacarana is nocturnal and is found only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains. It ranges from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia, including the Yungas. It is common in Cotapata National Park in Bolivia.
The pacarana is the sole extant member of the rodent family Dinomyidae in the infraorder Caviomorpha; the paca that it resembles in appearance is in a different Caviomorph family, the Cuniculidae. Initially, the pacarana was regarded as a member of the superfamily Muroidea, that includes the true mice, but that view was abandoned in the face of evidence that suggests that the pacarana is in the family Dinomyidae together with extinct animals such as Phoberomys pattersoni and Josephoartigasia monesi, prehistoric giant rodents that lived in South America several million years ago.
Pacaranas typically are found in family groups of four or five.
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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FrugivoreA frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts, and seeds. Approx...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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PrecocialPrecocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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BurrowingA burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
Among animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe pacarana is a rare and slow-moving rodent that is found only in South America. Native Tupi people call it the pacarana (false paca) because it is superficially similar to the paca, a different rodent that is not in the same family. The pacarana has a chunky body and is quite large for a rodent; it also has a very thick and furry tail.
Pacaranas range from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia, including the Yungas. They are common in Cotapata National Park in Bolivia. These animals live in tropical forests and grasslands of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains.
Pacaranas are social animals and usually live in family groups of 4 or 5 individuals. They are active at night and during the day they rest in caves between rocks or dens at the base of trees. Pacaranas spend most of their time on the ground, however, they are very adept climbers. When they eat, they grasp their food with their fore-paws while sitting on their hind legs. These animals communicate with each other using various sounds, whines, songs, hisses, and tooth chattering.
Pacaranas have a herbivorous diet that includes fruits, leaves, and plant shoots.
Pacaranas usually give birth to 2 young in a nest that is located in burrows dug by parents, in rock crevices, or in hollow logs. The gestation period lasts between 222 and 280 days. The young are born fully developed (precocial) and a few days after birth they actively move around and explore their home area.
Pacaranas are threatened mainly due to habitat loss and deforestation. They are also considered serious agricultural pests and thus are persecuted by farmers.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the pacarana total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...