Cayenne rat
| Cayenne rat | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Proechimys guyannensis | ||||||||||||
| É. Geoffroy , 1803 |
The Cayenne rat ( Proechimys guyannensis , Syn . : Proechimys cayennensis Desmarest , 1817 and Proechimys warreni Thomas, 1905) is a rodent from the family of the spiny rats (Echimyidae; also called lance rats or hedgehog rats) that lives in South America .
The distribution area includes Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil, where it occurs up to 500 m altitude. It is often found in swamp areas on the lower Amazon, especially near Belém ( Pará ). The cayenne rat is savory, easy to keep in captivity, and is eaten in Colombia.
description
It is very long- legged, similar to the agouti and can shed its long tail, similar to the lizards , when pursued, but it does not grow back. The tail breaks at the first caudal vertebra , so the tailless cayenne rats are sometimes mistaken for a different species.
Way of life
The nocturnal animals that live in holes in the ground or hollowed out tree trunks have a vegetarian diet, mainly on seeds, fruits and mushrooms. The females are sexually mature at 146 days. The young are very well developed at birth, seeing and eating by themselves on the third day. The neonatal weight is 24.7 g, the suckling period lasts up to 21–35 days.
In the wild, the animals reach an age of 1.7 years , in captivity they reach an age of 3.5 years.
Subspecies
Six subspecies are recognized:
- Proechimys guyannensis guyannensis
- Proechimys guyannensis arabupu
- Proechimys guyannensis arescens
- Proechimys guyannensis cherriei
- Proechimys guyannensis riparum
- Proechimys guyannensis vacillator
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Catzeflis, F. & Patton, J. 2008: Proechimys guyannensis at IUCN (English, accessed December 19, 2009)
- ↑ Commission on Life Sciences: Monitoring Human Tissues for Toxic Substances Preview at books.google.de (English, accessed on March 23, 2010)
- ↑ AM Husson: The mammals of Suriname preview at books.google.de (English, accessed on March 22, 2010)
- ↑ John Frederick Eisenberg, Kent Hubbard Redford: Mammals of the Neotropics, Volume 3: Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil (Mammals of Neotropics) preview at books.google.de (English, accessed March 23, 2010)
- ↑ Wolfgang Puschmann: Mammals Preview at books.google.de (accessed December 20, 2009)
- ^ Longevity Records: Proechimys guyannensis at Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (accessed December 27, 2009)
- ↑ Subspecies Proechimys guyannensis ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Mammal Species of the World (accessed December 20, 2009)
Web links
- ITIS Report: Proechimys cayennensis (accessed December 19, 2009)
- Distribution map of Proechimys guyannensis at www.natureserve.org (accessed December 19, 2009)