Rodent Spotlight: Pacarana

It might seem strange that we are going from a rodent called a paca directly over to one called a pacarana, but I will endeavor to explain. The pacarana is actually not in the same family as the paca. It is a different rodent entirely but with the same infraorder known as cavimorpha. You remember the "cavis," right? That's where all the big critters come from! That is... unless your a guinea pig. Just being fat does not make you a giant.

The pacarana is a big rodent found within the foothills of the Andes mountains which is in South America. They are a fairly ancient species of rodent and quite large to boot. One averages thirty-one inches from head to tail and can weigh about thirty-three pounds. They tend to move around slowly and are strictly herbivores.

Information on these guys are a bit scarce so it took me a while to scrounge up the data. One thing that perked my interest was that the females have a gestation period of about nine months and have one to two offspring in a litter. Sound familiar? Most rodents are more known for giving birth fast and having a lot of babies at a time. These guys are more like us humans in that respect.

The name "pacarana" is actually a Tupi Indian term which literally means "false paca." That's right. The poor guy is named purely on the basis of a common misconception. People always think he is a paca! Talk about going through life with an identity crisis! I also enjoyed its scientific name "dinomys branikii." It literally translates into "terrible mouse." Why can't most scientific names be this fun! Despite the suggestive designation, the pacarana is not at all violent.

That misnomer was what got me thinking about the fictional aspect of the pacarana. Admittedly, this rodent is pretty big. As a man once wrote, "The pacarana reminds one of an immense rat well advanced in development towards a bear." (Allen, cited in Crowe 1967) This leads me to believe that these creatures might promote a more terrifying legend of themselves as a form of protection. In reality, they would be quite tame and gentle.

Just imagine meeting one of these big guys on a highway after hearing about how blood thirsty they are. True, they would not hurt a fly, but you don't know that. After all, just look how imposing they are! I imagine there would be many writers among the pacarana hoping to promote their own legend. Even if some people don't fall for it, the myth will still serve a purpose to make them a bit safer.

But you know what? Maybe, there IS a bit more to these guys than we thought. I hear they have a very impressive lineage that goes back into the distant past. Perhaps, we should look into this a bit more in the next blog. Stay tuned!

Thank you for reading this blog. If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tooie@tooiekangaroo.com. Wait for it!