The Central American agouti is a slender rodent with a short tail. A field study in Panama recorded it carrying fruit and seeds and burying them in scattered caches.
Its coat ranges from pale orange to brown or blackish, with a yellowish to white underside. It has a slender body and short tail.
The Central American agouti eats large seeds and hides some in the soil. In a three-year experiment in Costa Rica’s lowland wet forest, researchers mimicked agouti caches and compared four plant species with seeds buried in soil or left on the surface. They tracked damage by insects and vertebrates, germination and seedling growth.
Most buried palm seeds escaped predation by insects and vertebrates, while exposed seeds were often removed or infested. For one palm, however, burial made it harder for the hard outer layer to open and reduced germination. Seed caching can benefit plants at one stage and hinder them at another, with results depending on the plant species and stage of growth.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In a three-year Costa Rican experiment, most buried palm seeds escaped predators, but burial reduced germination in one palm species. The effects of agouti-like seed caching differed by plant.