A rodent of dry shrublands in central Chile. Groups dig shared burrow systems and are mainly active during daylight.
Its back is yellow-brown and the underside pale. It has large ears and a conspicuous tuft at the tail tip.
Across four years of fieldwork in central Chile, pregnancy or nursing was recorded in almost all female degus living in social groups. Mean within-group breeding proportions were about 98% in 2005 and 2006; every female in the groups examined in 2007 and 2008 bred. These underground social groups included several mothers raising young during the same season.
Published in 2011, the study identified night-time burrow companions at the Universidad de Chile’s Rinconada de Maipú field station using radio tracking and morning trapping. Researchers identified 13,11,9 and 10 groups in 2005–2008, respectively. Groups contained 2–12 adults, including 1–8 females and 0–5 males. Surrounding degu density varied between years, but neither total group size nor female group size changed significantly with annual density. Groups of different sizes contained many breeding females.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
CONAF records degus among the wildlife of Chile’s Las Chinchillas National Reserve. To protect native wildlife, the reserve prohibits bringing in pets or exotic animals, feeding wildlife and disturbing animals. These site rules apply within a protected area occupied by degus.