Valerie Morgan, age 11, of Phoenix, Arizona, for her question:
What sort of animal is the agouti?
The agouti is a smart animal, also suspicious especially of hungry, two legged human beings. He is a bunny type native of the New World, though North America is too cool for him. He resembles a rather large rabbit, but whoever heard of a rabbit with hoofs? These are a couple of reasons why Mr. Agouti and his numerous first cousins are classified in a family of their own.
Most of the long legged hares range north of the Mexican border. The agouti and his various cousins prefer Central and South America, where the climate is warmer. All of them belong in the large order of rodents. In many ways, the agouti is like a hare. However, he has little round ears instead of large flopping ones and his furry face reminds you somewhat of a guinea pig's with a smile. Usually he trots around gracefully on his slim legs. But when pressed for time he breaks into a frisky gallop or sprints along in a series of fast jumps.
Traveling through thick underbrush is easy because of his remarkable feet. The agouti has five toes on each front foot and three on each hind foot and the toes on his dainty feet have hard claws like little hoofs. The color of his rather coarse fur fades from brownish on the back to lighter tones on the chin and tummy. The brown tones range from caramel to chocolate, depending on the species; and most agouti cousins have bright orange or golden fur on their fat rumps. This colorful fur is longer and shags down to hide the fact that agoutis have no tails worth mentioning.
A chubbily charming agouti spends his days dozing in a burrow or perhaps comfortably curled up in a ready made hole in a hollow tree. He comes out to dine in the late evening or early morning. A strict vegetarian, he eats leaves and fern roots that thrive in the underbrush of his thick forest home. For dessert, he hunts around for a juicy fruit. The smart fellow has sensitive ears, always alert to the thudding sound of a ripe fruit when it falls from a tree. Sad to say, this fondness for fruit often leads to his doom.
The agouti is a plump, well fed animal just right for a meaty meal. In Central America and the West Indies, in South America as far south as Peru, his woods are full of large cats and other hungry carnivores. And wherever he lives he also is hunted by people. However, the agouti is a very, very cautious character. He keeps to the thickets and when he has to run for it, he can gallop or swim to safety. Usually he escapes his four footed enemies. But human hunters play a trick on him. Knowing his fondness for ripe, falling fruit, they toss a stone into the thicket. The agouti comes out of hiding, hoping to find a tasty dessert and often ends up as a tasty meat course on a human menu.
Baby agoutis weigh only seven ounces apiece, though they are born with full fur coats and their eyes are open and alert. Being mammals, they dine on mother's milk but the precocious youngsters are ready to nibble on tender leaves during their first hour of life. (After a few days, Mrs. Agouti permits them to meet their Papa.) They stay under parental care for a few weeks and then depart to cope with life on their own.