Spotted Paca
Cuniculus paca
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassMammalia (Mammals)
- OrderRodentia (Rodents)
- FamilyCuniculidae (Pacas)
- GenusCuniculus (Pacas)
- SpeciesCuniculus paca (Spotted Paca)
About the Spotted Paca
The lowland paca (Cuniculus paca), also known as the spotted paca, is a species of rodent. It has coarse dark brown to black fur, a pale underbelly, and typically 3–5 rows of white spots along its sides. Adults weigh 6 to 12 kilograms (13 to 26 lb). Its zygomatic arch is expanded laterally and dorsally to form a resonating chamber, a feature unique among mammals.
Lowland pacas are primarily nocturnal and solitary. They inhabit forested areas near water, live in burrows, and are strong swimmers that commonly enter the water to escape danger. Their diet consists mainly of plant material, including fruit, seeds, nuts, roots, and tubers, and they act as seed distributors.
Lowland pacas are hunted for their meat and can be agricultural pests, feeding on crops, including yam, cassava, sugar cane, and maize. Their numbers have been reduced by hunting and habitat destruction, although they remain plentiful in protected habitats.
The animal is called paca in most of its range, but tepezcuintle (original Aztec language name) in most of Mexico and Central America, tepesquintle in Guatemala, guardatinaja in Nicaragua, pisquinte in northern Costa Rica, tepezcuinte in... Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Tikal National Park
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there