Paca

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Paca

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cuniculidae
Genus: Cuniculus
Species: C. paca
Binomial name
Cuniculus paca
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms

Agouti paca Linnaeus, 1766

For the village in Slovakia see Pača. See also PACA.

The Paca (Cuniculus paca), also known as the Spotted Paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from East-Central Mexico to Paraguay. It is called paca in most of its range, but tepezcuintle in Mexico and Guatemala, Conejo Pintado in Panamá, guanta in Ecuador, majás in Peru and boruga in Colombia. It is also known as the gibnut in Belize, where it is prized as a game animal, labba in Guyana and lappe on the island of Trinidad.

There is much confusion in the nomenclature of this and related species; see agouti. In particular, the popular term agouti or common agouti normally refers to species of the distinct Dasyprocta genus (such as the Brazilian cotia, Dasyprocta punctata). Sometimes the word agouti is also used for a polyphyletic grouping uniting the families Cuniculidae and Dasyproctidae, which, besides the Paca and common agoutis, includes also the acouchis (Myoprocta). Cuniculus is the appropriate genus name instead of Agouti based on a 1998 ruling of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature as the Paca's genus (Woods and Kilpatrick, 2005).

Contents

[edit] Description

The paca has coarse fur without underfur, dark brown to black on the upper body and white or yellowish on the underbelly. It usually has three to five rows of white spots along its sides, against a dark grey background. It has thick strong legs, with four digits in the forefeet and five in the hind feet (the first and fifth are reduced); the nails function as hooves. The tail is short and hairless. The zygomatic arch is expanded laterally and dorsally and is used as a resonating chamber - a unique feature among mammals.

An adult paca weighs between 6 and 12 kg. It has two litters per year, each having usually one young, sometimes two; gestation lasts 115–120 days. Pacas are sexually mature at about 1 year.

[edit] Habits

Pacas are mostly nocturnal and solitary and do not vocalize very much. They live in forested habitats near water, preferably smaller rivers, and dig simple burrows about 2 m below the surface, usually with more than one exit. Pacas are good swimmers and usually head for the water to escape danger. Their diet includes leaves, stems, roots, seeds, and fruit, especially avocados, mangos and zapotes. They sometimes store food.

[edit] Economical and ecological aspects

Pacas are considered agricultural pests for yam, cassava, sugar cane, corn and other food crops. Their meat has excellent flavor and is highly prized. They are plentiful in protected habitats, and hence not in danger of extinction, but overall their numbers have been much reduced because of hunting and habitat destruction. They are easily bred and raised in farms, although the taste is said to be highly inferior (perhaps unpleasant) when farmed.

[edit] References

  • Contreras (1996). Agouti paca. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 5 May 2006.
  • Woods, C. A. and C. W. Kilpatrick. 2005. Hystricognathi. Pp 1538-1600 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference 3rd ed. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.

[edit] External links