Central American Agouti

Central American agoutis from the main part of their range weigh 3–4.2 kg (6.6–9.3 lb) and are typically reddish, orange or yellowish grizzled with black. In northern Colombia, western Venezuela, and on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica and Panama the foreparts are brownish or blackish grizzled with tawny or olivaceous, the mid-body is orange, and the rump is black or cream. In western Colombia and Ecuador some have tawny foreparts and yellowish to the rump. Agoutis from the disjunct southern population (Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina) which sometimes are treated as a separate species, Dasyprocta variegata, weigh 3–5.2 kg (6.6–11.5 lb) and are grizzled brown, yellowish and black, or grizzled black and orange.

Like other agoutis, Central American agoutis are diurnal and live in monogamous pairs. They mainly feed on fruits and seeds, and are important seed dispersers. The Central American agoutis mainly eat fruit and search for fruit-bearing trees. They can hear the sound of falling fruit from far away. When food is abundant, they store seeds. They sometimes also look for and eat crabs, vegetables, and other plants.