Agouti

“ As soon as the agouti hears the sound, he is instantly still, remains resting on his hind feet, and suffers himself to be taken. His flesh is white, like that of the rabbit; but it is dry, has no fat, and never entirely loses a certain wild flavour, which is extremely disagreeable to Europeans. He is held in great esteem by the natives, particularly when the animal has been feeding near the sea on plants impregnated with salt. They are therefore caught in great numbers, and for this reason the species is much diminished.—Where did you find him? ”

“ The little animal is a native of North America, where it makes its nest under the roots of trees, and lives upon fruit. But, Ernest, the agouti not only looks something like a pig, but most decidedly grunts like a porker. ”

“ It is an agouti, [1] a mother, her little ones are near. At sight of the stranger they run to her, but quickly re-assured, quietly finish their morning repast.
Farther on, coatis, [2] with short ears, and long tails; companies of little Guinea pigs; armadillos, a species of hedge-hog without the quills, but covered with an armor of scales, more compact and impervious than that of the ancient knights of the Middle Ages, arrange themselves along the line of his route, as if to pass him in review.
[1]
Agouti. ”

“ To subsist and multiply, they require a warm climate, yet they will live in France if well sheltered from wet and cold, especially in winter; it is even a stranger in the cold and temperate climates in America. In the islands there is only this one species of agouti, which we have described, but in the other places above named, it is affirmed there is another species called the agouchi, which is much smaller than the first ”

“ With some threads and the fat of his game, he contrived a lamp; still later, he had oil, and reeds served him for wicks.
Dating from this moment, the entire island paid tribute to him; the crabs, the eels, the flesh of the agouti, savory like that of the rabbit, by turns figured on his table. When he seasoned them with some morsels of pork, substituting ship biscuit for bread, his repasts were fit for an admiral. ”

“ There are many species of agouti throughout tropical America and the West India Islands, and the range of the genus extends as far south as the plains of Patagonia.
The Pacas form another genus belonging to the family of the cavies that may be also grouped with the hares and rabbits. They burrow like the common rabbit, and their food consists of nuts, fruits, and roots. Their flesh is excellent; and on this account they are hunted eagerly, both by the Indians and whites who dwell in the countries where they are found. ”

“ He possessed cunning, stealth, agility and intelligence. The other creature could boast of none of these things; but in their stead it had formidable as well as useful claws, and was covered with a leathery hide that rendered it immune to assaults that he could not hope to withstand. It was evident that their paths in life lay in diverse directions.
That very night, as he lay moaning in the grass, a foolish agouti hopped up to him inquisitively and paid with its life for the indiscretion. And after bolting the tender flesh of the victim the cub again viewed the world in a friendlier light. ”

“ On the coast, mice are not the same as on the mountains, and in the forests they are again different. Everywhere they leave their original dwelling-places, which they exchange for an abode with man. As the mouse and the rat attack the gathered fruits of the earth, the agouti preys on those yet standing in the field. These animals are seldom found in the depths of the forest, but more frequently on its edge near the chacras of the Indians. ”

“ As the agouti comes out only by night it is a difficult animal to watch, and it is so wary that it cannot be approached without great caution. All the time while it is feeding, it keeps on turning its head first to one side and then to the other, so that it can scarcely ever be taken by surprise.
If it should be captured, however, it never seems to fight, and has no idea of using either its sharp teeth or its claws to defend itself. So sometimes it has been thought that an agouti would make a very nice pet. ”

“ Evidently we are here dealing with two factors: (1) the grey factor (G) , which modifies black into agouti, or tortoiseshell into yellow; and (2) an intensifying factor (I) , which intensifies yellow into agouti and tortoiseshell into black. It may be mentioned here that other experiments confirmed the view that the yellow rabbit is a dilute agouti, and the tortoiseshell a dilute black. The Himalayan pattern behaves as a recessive to self-colour. It is a self-coloured black rabbit lacking a factor that allows the colour to develop except in the points. ”

“ If we denote this factor by C, then the constitution of an albino must be cc, while that of a coloured animal may be CC or Cc, according as to whether it breeds true to colour or can {51}throw albinos. Agouti was previously known to be a simple dominant to black, i.e. an agouti is a black rabbit plus an additional greying factor which modifies the black into agouti. This factor we will denote by G, and we will use B for the black factor. Our original agouti and albino parents we may therefore regard as in constitution GGCCBB and ggccBB respectively. ”

“ The agouti, or Indian cony, or rabbit, frequents the same region as the paca, and is about the size of an ordinary hare. It does not, however, run in the same way, but moves by frequent leaps. The jaguar ranges through the whole of this part of the continent, and is remarkable for its large size and great strength. Not only does it frequently kill full-grown cattle, and drag them to its lair far-away in the woods, but, if irritated, it does not hesitate to attack human beings. The tiger-cat, or ocelot, which much resembles a common cat, but is considerably larger, is also found in the forest ”

“ The flesh of the guinea pig (Cavia cobaya, Desm.) is eaten in South America, and is said to be not unlike pork. When he is dressed for the table his skin is not taken off as in other animals, but the hair is scalded and scraped off in the same manner as it is in a hog.
The white and tender flesh of the agouti (Dasyprocta Acuti, Desm.) , when fat and well dressed, is by no means unpalatable food, but very delicate and digestible. It is met with in Brazil, Guiana, and in Trinidad. The manner of dressing them in the West Indies used to be to roast them with a pudding in their bellies. ”

“ The Agoutis, however, and Pacas, and other rodents, says Humboldt, have teeth and perseverance to gnaw through the shell; and when the seeds are once out, ‘all the animals of the forest, the monkeys, the manaviris, the squirrels, the agoutis, the parrots, the macaws, hasten thither to dispute the prey. ”

“ They scald the agouti and dress it like a sucking pig, and the flesh of such as are fat and well fed is tolerable food, though it has always a peculiar taste, and is rather tough. When they go among the sugar-canes they are easily taken, for sinking every step in the straw and leaves, which covers the ground, a man may come up and even kill them with a stick. When [322] in the open country it runs with great swiftness before the dogs; and having gained its retreat, nothing can force it to come out but smoke ”

“ We here have the agouti, bizcacha, three species of armadillo, the ostrich, certain kinds of partridges and other birds, none of which are ever seen in Chile, but are the characteristic animals of the desert plains of Patagonia. We have likewise many of the same (to the eyes of a person who is not a botanist) thorny stunted bushes, withered grass, and dwarf plants. Even the black slowly crawling beetles are closely similar, and some, I believe, on rigorous examination, absolutely identical. ”

“ It differs, however, from that genus in many essential respects; for instance, it has only three toes behind. It is also nearly twice the size, weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds. The Agouti is a true friend of the desert; it is a common feature of the landscape to see two or three hopping quickly one after the other in a straight line across these wild plains. They are found as far north as the Sierra Tapalguen (lat. 37 degs. 30') , where the plain rather suddenly becomes greener and more humid; and their southern limit is between Port Desire and St. ”

“ And so the mighty serpent was contented merely to remain in the damp, evil-smelling burrow under the decaying vegetation to wait and to watch.
About the only creatures to remain unaffected by the approach of the storm were the birds in the treetops; to them the thing 5it heralded meant a superabundance of food and a denser, more protective growth of vegetation. And the stupid Agoutis, overgrown guinea-pigs they were, who could never profit by past experiences anyway, either squatted comfortably in their burrows or stole out noiselessly to nibble the tender shoots, as suited their fancy. ”

“ When fully grown, the agouti is rather more than eighteen inches long, and in general color it is olive brown. But the hair of the hinder quarters, which is very much longer than that of the rest of the body, is golden brown, while the middle line of the lower part of the body is almost white.
The Capybara
Few people, on seeing a capybara for the first time, would take it to be a rodent. It looks much more like a wild pig, for it has a very heavily built body, which almost touches the ground as it waddles along, short, stiff, bristly hair, and great hoof-like feet. ”

“ With respect to the agoutis, pacos, and other animals of the seventh genus peculiar to the New Continent, we can only compare them with the hare and rabbit, from which, however, they all differ in species. What renders their being of a common origin doubtful is, the hare being dispersed almost over every climate of the Old Continent, without having undergone any other alteration than in the colour of its hair. ”

“ Agoutis are slender-limbed rodents, with five front and three hind toes (the first front toe very minute) , and very short tails. The hair, especially on the hind-quarters, is coarse and somewhat rough; the colour being generally rufous brown. The molar teeth have cylindrical crowns, with several islands and a single lateral fold of enamel when worn. In habits agoutis are nocturnal, dwelling in forests, where they conceal themselves during the day in hollow tree-trunks, or in burrows among roots. ”

“ AÏgou¶ti, AÏgou¶ty } (?) , n. [F. agouti, acouti, Sp. aguti, fr. native name.] (Zo”l.) A rodent of the genus Dasyprocta, about the size of a rabbit, peculiar to South America and the West Indies. The most common species is the Dasyprocta agouti. ”

“ Waterhouse, in which he is followed by Professor Carus, but they have been united by Professor Lilljeborg, and without pretending to decide which classification is the more correct I follow the latter, because there is a striking external resemblance between the two groups, and they have an identical distribution in the Neotropical region, and with one exception are all found east of the Andes. Dasyprocta (9 sp.) , the agouti, ranges from Mexico to Paraguay, one species inhabiting the small West Indian islands of St. Vincent, Lucia, and Grenada ”

“ The small agoutis are perhaps rather more plentiful; but almost the only animals found in any numbers are the monkeys, which are abundant, both in species and individuals, and are the only mammalia that give some degree of life to these trackless forests, which seem peculiarly fitted for their development and increase. ”

“ Still more pregnant with evolutionism in the bud is the prophetic remark about a certain singular group of South American birds, 'This small family is one of those which, from its varied relations to other families, although at present offering only difficulties to the systematic naturalist, ultimately may assist in revealing the grand scheme, common to the present and past ages, on which organised beings have been created.' Of the agouti, once more, that true friend of the desert, Darwin notes that it does not now range as far south as Port St. ”

“ Sumichrast, who had gone on in front, suddenly stopped, and signed to us to be quiet. I glanced down the stream, and, near a hole full of water, I discovered an agouara, or washer raccoon, squatted down, dipping its paws into the water, and rubbing them together energetically. L'Encuerado fired; it gave a bound and fell over. A lizard it was which the animal was washing before devouring—a peculiar and inexplicable habit to which it owes its name. It had a gray coat, and a tapering muzzle like that of an opossum.
The agouara (Procyon cancrivorus) is frequently met with in Mexico. ”

“ Then as the climate became even more arid the prairie or tall grass retreated eastward, while the forest moved before it even farther to the east and south, and the modern shortgrass of the plains took its place. Today Agate lies in one of the valleys whose rivers are slowly dissecting the High Plains.
The modern plains are dominated by short, curly, sodforming buffalo grass, a plant well adapted to the area’s light rainfall, periodic droughts, low humidity, rapid evaporation, and high winds. The dominant vertebrate animals are burrowers and grazers, and dogs are the primary carnivores. ”

“ The Agageers having procured as much meat as would maintain them a long time, could not be persuaded to continue the hunting any longer. Part of them remained with the she-elephant, which seemed to be the fattest; tho' the one they killed first was by much the most valuable, on account of its long teeth. It was still alive, nor did it seem an easy operation to kill it, without the assistance of our Agageers, even though it was totally helpless, except with its trunk.
We sought about for the buffaloes and rhinoceroses ”