Pacarana
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The pacarana (Dinomys branickii) is a rare and slow-moving South American rodent found only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia.
Also known as Count Branicki's mouse, it is known as the "pacarama" ("false paca") by native Indians due to its superficial similarity to an unrelated rodent, the paca.
It has a chunky body and is large for a rodent, weighing up to 15 kg (33 pounds) and measuring up to 79 cm (31.1 inches) in length, not including the thick, furry tail. It is the world's largest mouse and the second largest rodent known (the largest being the capybara).
External links:
- Animal Diversity Web (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/specimens/Dinomyidae.html)
- http://www.animalinfo.org/species/rodent/dinobran.htm
