About Dasyprocta punctata Gray, 1842
The Central American agouti, with the scientific name Dasyprocta punctata Gray, 1842, is an agouti species belonging to the family Dasyproctidae. Most of its native range extends from Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula in southern Mexico, through Central America, to northwestern Ecuador, Colombia, and far western Venezuela. A highly separate, disjunct population occurs in southeastern Peru, far southwestern Brazil, Bolivia, western Paraguay, and far northwestern Argentina. This disjunct population has previously been classified as a separate species called the brown agouti (Dasyprocta variegata), but a comprehensive review of this species' geographic variation is still needed. The Central American agouti has also been introduced to Cuba and the Cayman Islands. While some of its populations have declined due to hunting and deforestation, large intact populations still exist, so the species is not considered threatened. In an analysis that included 240 species, agoutis ranked fourth for having the best sense of smell, performing better than dogs, which actually ranked as average. Agoutis have snouts densely packed with olfactory receptors.
