Dasyprocta punctata
Silhouette: Margot Michaud · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) is a species of agouti from the family Dasyproctidae. The main portion of its range is from Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula (southern Mexico), through Central America, to northwestern Ecuador, Colombia and far western Venezuela. A highly disjunct population is found in southeastern Peru, far southwestern Brazil, Bolivia, western Paraguay and far northwestern Argentina. The disjunct population has been treated as a separate species, the brown agouti (Dasyprocta variegata), but a major review of the geographic variation is necessary. The Central American agouti has also been introduced to Cuba and the Cayman Islands.
Though some populations are reduced due to hunting and deforestation, large populations remain and it is not considered threatened. In an analysis of 240 species, agoutis came in fourth place for best sense of smell; better than dogs, which actually came out average. Their snouts are packed full of olfactory receptors.
Central American agoutis from the main part of their range weigh 3–4.2 kg (6.6–9.3 lb) and are typically reddish, orange or yellowish grizzled with black. In northern Colombia, western Venezuela... Wikipedia →
Recording0:18
Panama · 2021
© Terry · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 4 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 5 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 6 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 7 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Central American Agouti sighting in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, based on 40 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 21 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Central American Agouti in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August and October, the lowest months. That is one of Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park's driest months, with about 160 mm of rain against 570 mm in October.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Central American Agouti sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
28th of 33
Of the 33 parks where we can rate Central American Agouti sightings, Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park ranks 28th at about 20%. The best odds are in Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 70%), Manuel Antonio National Park (Costa Rica, about 70%) and Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (Costa Rica, about 70%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Rodentia
The closest relatives of the Central American Agouti that you can see in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park (order Rodentia, Rodents) are Red-tailed Squirrel (about 30%), Mexican Hairy Dwarf Porcupine (about 10%) and Variegated Squirrel (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Central American Agouti is recorded against all the mammals logged in Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park (40 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
