Agouti

Agouti, the name given to any species of the South American rodent genus Dasyprocta D agouti is the best known form; it is from eighteen to twenty inches long, somewhat like a small slender-limbed pig, varying from brown to yellow in colour, with the middle line of the abdomen white. It is very quick in its movements, and often does considerable damage to gardens and sugar plantations. In the southern parts of Brazil and Paraguay, and Bolivia, it is replaced by D. azara, Azara's agouti; the Acouchy (D. acouchy), a smaller species, is found in Guiana, the North of Brazil, and some of the West Indian Islands.