Draft Terms of Reference – Brazilian Agouti 1. Provide information on the taxonomy of the species Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Suborder: Hystricomorpha Family: Dasyproctidae Genus: Dasyprocta Species: leporina Common name: Brazilian Agouti The species was first described as Mus leporinus by Linnaeus in 1758 (later modified to Dasyprocta leporina), but until 1978 was known by the junior synonym Dasyprocta aguti (Linnaeus, 1766).1,2 Other synonyms which have been used in the past include Dasyprocta cayana (Lacepede, 1802) and Dasyprocta rubrata (Thomas, 1898). 3 There are a number of named subspecies (at least eight).4,5 Captive populations are not generally assigned to subspecies as the origins of the founders are usually unknown. The species is also commonly known as the Golden-rumped Agouti, Red-rumped Agouti, Orange-rumped Agouti, and Golden Agouti. 1 Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds) (2005) “Mammal Species Of The World: a taxonomic and geographic reference” (3rd edition) John Hopkins University Press 2 Husson, A.M. (1978) “The Mammals Of Suriname” Leiden, the Netherlands 3 Husson (1978), op. cit. 4 Wilson (2005), op. cit. 5 Husson (1978), op. cit. 2. Provide information on the status of the species under CITES CITES Listing: no status IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC) The Brazilian Agouti is not listed on the CITES appendices,6, and is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List due to the species’ wide distribution and presumed large overall population. 7 The Brazilian Agouti has a distribution covering a large part of north-eastern South America, including Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, Brazil, and Trinidad and Tobago.8,9,10 Insular populations in the Lesser Antilles are largely derived from prehistoric introductions by man and have been isolated long enough to have evolved into distinct subspecies.11 Population figures are unknown but the species is considered common and non-threatened throughout its range.12,13,14,15 6 http://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php 7 http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6284/0 8 Eisenberg, J.F. (1989) “Mammals Of The Neotropics: vol. 1 the northern Neotropics” University of Chicago Press 9 Eisenberg, J.F. and Redford, K.H. (1999) “Mammals Of The Neotropics: vol. 3 the central Neotropics” University of Chicago Press 10 Emmons, L.H. and Feer, F. (1997) ”Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: a field guide” (2nd edition) University of Chicago Press 11 Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds) (2005) “Mammal Species Of The World: a taxonomic and geographic reference” (3rd edition) John Hopkins University Press 12 http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6284/0 13 Eisenberg (1989), op. cit. 14 Eisenberg and Redford (1999), op. cit. 15 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 3. Provide information about the ecology of the species. Like most large-bodied rodents, agoutis are quite long-lived animals. Little is known of the life spans of wild animals, but the oldest captive record for the Brazilian Agouti is 17.8 years.16 Most agouti species are of a roughly similar size, with the Brazilian Agouti specifically having a body-length range of 45-69cm and weight of 3-6kg.17,18 Females average larger than males but the difference is not great.19 All agouti species are similar in general appearance, being relatively large (about the size of a cat) but slender-bodied, with long thin legs, hoof-like claws, coarse but glossy pelage, small ears, and almost no tail.20,21 The gross differences between species are determined partly by distribution and partly by colouration. The Brazilian Agouti is very easily distinguished from all other agouti species by its distinctive coloration: dark brownish on the forebody becoming obviously orange or reddish on the rear part of the body (hence the alternative names of Orange-rumped Agouti, etc).22,23 Brazilian Agoutis have a large natural distribution covering most of north-eastern South America, including Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana, Brazil, and Trinidad and Tobago.24,25,26 Their distribution is entirely tropical and while their primary habitat is rainforest they also inhabit less vegetated areas including farmland, so long as there is some dense cover in the area.27,28,29 They live entirely terrestrially and are active by day, year-round (i.e. there is no hibernation period).30,31,32 The primary diet of all agouti species is fallen fruit and seeds, collected opportunistically from the forest floor.33,34 Agoutis are what are known as “scatter-hoarders”: they routinely cache food items (i.e. burying seeds and nuts) in separate locations when food is plentiful, which they return to when food becomes scarce.35,36 Because they do not retrieve all cached items they play a valuable role in their native forests as seed dispersers for the forest trees.37,38 Brazilian Agoutis occupy home ranges of between 3 and 10 hectares.39,40,41 Population densities may be between 1 and 63 animals per square kilometre.42 Males are territorial towards other males.43 Young may remain with the parents for a certain period, forming family groups.44 16 Weigl, R. (2005) “Longevity Of Mammals In Captivity; from the living collections of the world” E. Schweizerbart’sche: Stuttgart 17 Husson, A.M. (1978) “The Mammals Of Suriname” Leiden, the Netherlands 18 Emmons, L.H. and Feer, F. (1997) ”Neotropical Rainforest Mammals: a field guide” (2nd edition) University of Chicago Press 19 Mendes-Oliveira, A.C.; de Maria, S.L.S.; de Lima, R.C.S.; Fernandes, A.S.; de Alameida, P.R.C.; Montag, L.F.A.; and de Carvalho Jr., O. (2012) “Testing simple criteria for the age estimation of six hunted mammal species in Brazilian Amazon” Mastozoologica Neotropical, vol. 19:1 20 Nowak, R.M. (1999) “Walker’s Mammals Of The World” (5th edition), John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore 21 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 22 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 23 Eisenberg, J.F. and Redford, K.H. (1999) “Mammals Of The Neotropics: vol. 3 the central Neotropics” University of Chicago Press 24 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 25 Eisenberg and Redford (1999), op. cit. 26 Eisenberg, J.F. (1989) “Mammals Of The Neotropics: vol. 1 the northern Neotropics” University of Chicago Press 27 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 28 Eisenberg and Redford (1999), op. cit. 29 Eisenberg (1989), op. cit. 30 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 31 Eisenberg and Redford (1999), op. cit. 32 Eisenberg (1989), op. cit. 33 Henry, O. (1999) “Frugivory and the importance of seeds in the diet of the orange-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina)” Journal of Tropical Ecology, vol. 15: pp. 291-300 34 Dubost, G. and Henry, O. (2006) “Comparison of diets of the acouchy, agouti and paca, the three largest terrestrial rodents of the French Guianan forests” Journal of Tropical Ecology, vol. 22: pp. 641-651 35 Henry (1999), op. cit.. 36 Dubost and Henry (2006), op. cit. 37 Henry (1999), op. cit. 38 Dubost and Henry (2006), op. cit. 39 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 40 Silvius, K.M. and Fragoso, J.M.V. (2003) “Red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) home range use in an Amazonian forest: implications for the aggregated distribution of forest trees” Biotropica, vol. 35: pp. 74-83 41 Jorge, M.S.P. and Peres, C.A. (2005) “Population density and home range use of red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) within and outside a natural Brazil nut stand in south-eastern Amazonia” Biotropica, vol. 37 (2): pp. 317-321 42 Silvius and Fragoso (2003), op. cit. 43 Eisenberg and Redford (1999), op. cit. 44 Emmons and Feer (1997), op. cit. 4. Provide information on the reproductive biology of the species Compared to most rodents agoutis are slow breeders, producing few but well-developed young and investing a lot of time in raising them successfully.45 Brazilian Agoutis form monogamous pairs which remain together long-term, although young often remain with the parents for extended periods to form small family groups.46,47 Females are larger than males but not to any great degree.48 Litter sizes are of just one to three young, born after a gestation of 104-120 days.49,50 The young are fully-developed and are active within an hour of birth.51 The young are not weaned until about twenty weeks of age and they often remain with the parents for much longer, although male offspring are less tolerated than females.52 Sexual maturity is reached at about nine months but this does appear to be affected by the presence or absence of males/adult females: studies have shown that female agoutis raised in captivity without males do not seem to reach puberty at all but young females raised in the presence of a male reach maturity at nine months ; however a male placed with adult non-cycling females results in the onset of the oestrus cycle within ten to sixty days. Furthermore the presence of an adult female delays or prevents the onset of sexual maturity in the female offspring.53 There is no set season for breeding. Studies of wild Brazilian Agoutis show they may breed at any time of year, although most births occur between November to April.54 45 Weir, B.J. (1974) “Reproductive characteristics of hystricomorph rodents” Symposium of the Zoological Society of London, vol. 34: pp. 437-446 46 Weir (1974), op. cit. 47 Eisenberg, J.F. and Redford, K.H. (1999) “Mammals Of The Neotropics: vol. 3 the central Neotropics” University of Chicago Press 48 Mendes-Oliveira, A.C.; de Maria, S.L.S.; de Lima, R.C.S.; Fernandes, A.S.; de Alameida, P.R.C.; Montag, L.F.A.; and de Carvalho Jr., O.