We saw the Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) several times while walking in the gardens of the Lodge at Pico Bonito in Honduras. These hystricomorph rodents are diurnal and live as mongamous pairs. Most times we saw one it was carrying one of these large seed pods.
Excellent , Which seed pod ?
ReplyDeleteFrom David Lambert:
ReplyDeleteYour photo of an agouti carrying big seeds reminded me of a suggestion that large-seeded Neotropical plants originally depended for seed dispersal on ground sloths and other big plant-eating mammals whose extinction has impaired the plants' seed dispersal. But research shows that agoutis and parrots do a pretty good job: agoutis especially with Brazil nuts, the West Indian locust and a species of palm. A paper* says tagging seeds of
a palm in Panama showed that agoutis moved these up to 280 metres from the parent tree. Most got eaten but 14% survived.
* Jansesn, P.A. et al. Thieving rodents as substitute dispersers of megafaunal seeds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 16th July 2012.