Woolen rats
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| Allen , 1900 |
The woolly pouch rats ( Caluromys ) are a genus of the opossum rats (Didelphidae) and distributed on the American continent from southern Mexico to northern Argentina .
description
They reach a head body length of 18 to 29 centimeters and a weight of 200 to 500 grams. The tail, which is 27 to 49 centimeters long and half hairy, can be used as a prehensile tail. Their soft, long fur is reddish-brown or gray in color and sometimes patterned white, the underside is yellowish. The black facial stripe is characteristic.
Habitat and way of life
Their habitat is primarily forests, where they predominantly live on trees. They are skilled climbers and are active at twilight or at night. They live solitary, but show no pronounced territorial behavior.
Pouch rats are omnivores, their diet consists of fruits, seeds, leaves, insects and small vertebrates.
The female gives birth to three to four, rarely up to seven young animals up to three times a year. The gestation period is the longest of all opossum rats at 25 days. The newborns stay in the pouch for three months and are weaned at four months. The highest known age of a woolen rat was six years.
Systematics
There are three types:
- The Derby wool rat ( Caluromys derbianus ) is common from southern Mexico to Ecuador .
- The brown-eared wool pouch rat ( Caluromys lanatus ) lives from Colombia to northern Argentina .
- The yellow wool rat ( Caluromys philander ) is native between Venezuela and southern Brazil .
threat
The International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN has all 3 types of woolly rats in the Red List of Endangered Species ; however, they are rated as “ least concern ” .
Bag rats are primarily endangered by the destruction of their habitat. In earlier times they were hunted for their fur, but this practice is rarely practiced today.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0801857899
