Ecology and social life of the red acouchy, Myoprocta exilis; comparison with the orange‐rumped agouti, Dasyprocta leporina

Abstract

Red acouchies were observed in French Guiana, and compared with agoutis. Acouchies frequent all forest habitats except disturbed areas. Strictly diurnal, they show most activity in early morning. Males prefer open forests, females closed habitats. The size of home ranges and the level of activity decrease in the dry season when food resources are at a minimum. The social unit is the family, one male and one female with juveniles. Family units are separated from each other. Each individual occupies a small home range which has several much‐frequented areas and many resting places, often located in hollow logs and consisting of one nest in use and several old leafheaps. There are no food reserves in the nest: fruits are buried over the whole home range. Within each social unit, every individual mainly lives alone and home ranges have little overlap. The percentage of males decreases from the juvenile to the adult stage. Populations show large year to year density variations. The red acouchy is not similar to the agouti, but instead represents an unique adaptation among the terrestrial forest herbivores.

Effects of forest fragmentation on two sister genera of Amazonian rodents (Myoprocta acouchy and Dasyprocta leporina)

“…Particularly for this study, I walked on the trails during early morning (06:00-07:00 h) and late afternoon (17:00-18:00 h), which are peak activity periods for the two genera (Smythe, 1978;Dubost, 1988). Detections were visual and/or acoustic.…”

“…During periods of fruit scarcity, agoutis switch mostly to seeds whereas acouchies still include a fair amount of fruit pulps in their diet (Dubost and Henry, 2006). Finally, agoutis appear to be habitat generalist, while acouchies are restricted to mature forest (Dubost, 1988;Voss et al, 2001). …”

“…Ecologically, they show few differences, probably related to their size differences. Agoutis have larger home ranges: 5-10 ha (Silvius and Fragoso, 2003;Jorge and Peres, 2005) versus 1-2 ha for acouchies (Dubost, 1988). During periods of fruit scarcity, agoutis switch mostly to seeds whereas acouchies still include a fair amount of fruit pulps in their diet (Dubost and Henry, 2006).…”

“…vs. 0.5-1 kg.). Due to their size differences, agoutis have larger home ranges: 5-10 ha (Silvius and Fragoso, 2003;Jorge and Peres, 2005) versus 1-2 ha for acouchies (Dubost, 1988). Considering their size differences, if within patch dynamics is the main factor affecting their abundances, agoutis should be more sensitive to a decrease in forest size.…”

Role of mammals on seed dispersal and predation processes of Mauritia flexuosa (Arecaceae) in the Colombian Amazon

“…Ambas especies han sido reportadas como consumidores frecuentes de los frutos de muchas especies de palmas en el neotrópico (Smythe, 1978;Smythe, 1989, Mendieta-Aguilar, Pacheco, & Roldán, 2015. En el caso del agutí negro, su efectividad como especie dispersora se ve acentuada por el comportamiento de enterrar las semillas en épocas de abundancia de alimento, muchas de las cuales son olvidadas aumentando así la probabilidad de germinación de las mismas (Smythe, 1978;Dubost, 1988;Howe, 1989). Además, en este estudio se pudo corroborar que el número total de semillas dispersadas por esta especie es proporcionalmente mayor a las consumidas in situ.…”