Dinomys branickii
pacarana

Pacaranas are distributed throughout Western South American from Colombia to Bolivia (Anderson 1984 and White 1992).

Pacaranas inhabit the slopes and valleys of rainforests in the Andes mountains. They are thought to be extremely rare, although some scientists speculate that this might be due to a lack of information about the animal's true habitat (White 1992 and Matthews 1971).

Pacaranas are the third largest living rodent with a head and body length ranging from 730-790mm and a tail length of about 190mm (Anderson 1984). Pacaranas have upper parts that are typically dark brown or blackish with two discontinuous white stripes along the back and a few rows of white spots down each side (Burton 1987, Anderson 1984). The ears are relatively short and curved, the upper lip has a deep cleft, and pacaranas have many long, greyish whiskers. The feet are plantigrade and there are four digits on each foot, each with a long and powerful claw (Grzimek 1975 and White 1992).

In captivity, pacaranas are noticeably calm, non-aggressive, and peaceful animals (Matthews 1971 and Grzimek 1975). They appear to be mainly nocturnal and do some climbing, but are predominantly terrestrial. Pacaranas are usually solitary or found in pairs (Parker 1990). There seems to be an elaborate communication system consisting of a combination of foot stamping with fore paws, tooth chattering, whines, songs, and hisses (White 1992 and Anderson 1984). When feeding, they commonly sit on their hind legs and hold the food between the fore paws (Parker 1990). There is still not enough known about their life in the wild. Scientists are not certain whether the long claws of this species are mainly for digging or for climbing because captive pacaranas have not been observed to dig (Grzimek 1975).

Pacaranas mainly feed on fruits, leaves, and stems of plants (Matthews 1971).

Although rare, natives hunt pacaranas for food (Matthews 1971). Scientist believe the biggest enemy to pacaranas is the human (Grzimek 1975).

Pacaranas are classified as threatened and possibly on the verge being classified as endangered (Bailie 1996). The classification is mostly due to the animal's rareness. They are probably not significantly affected by deforestation. The most important challenge is to learn more about the pacarana's life history in the wild and its habitat range (Burton 1987 and White 1992).