A paca (from Tupí paka Pacas are large rodents with dots and stripes on their sides, short ears, and barely visible tails. Pacas are eaten by people in Belize, where they are known as "gibnut" and, having been served to Queen Elizabeth II, "the royal rat". In the Amazon basin they are known as "majás". In Guyanese English, it is known as labba from Lokono. In Trinidad they are known as lappe and are highly prized as game animals; the cooked meat being considered quite a delicacy among wildmeat enthusiasts.

Evolutionary background

Pacas originated in South America and are one of the few mammal species that successfully emigrated to North America after the Great American Interchange . They were formerly grouped with the agoutis in the family Dasyproctidae, subfamily Agoutinae, but were given full family status because they differ in the number of toes, the shape of the skull, and coat patterning.

Description

thumb|left|Paca

Pacas are in length, excluding the short tail, weigh , and are the fourteenth-largest rodents in the world. Similar to guinea pigs, they have square heads, small ears, sides patterned with spots and stripes, and virtually invisible tails.

The smaller mountain paca lives in the northern Andes and the Páramo grasslands, with a peak occurrence between above sea level.

  • Lowland paca, Cuniculus paca (Agouti paca)
  • Mountain paca, Cuniculus taczanowskii
  • Dry zone paca, Cuniculus shakilee
  • Cuniculus hernandezi (a recent and disputed nomen nudum)

Potential use by humans

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has studied the possibilities of developing the paca as a food supply for people in the tropics.

References

Sources

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  • Gibnuts at Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary