Mexican agouti

Mexican agouti
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Dasyproctidae
Genus:	Dasyprocta
Species:	D. mexicana
Binomial name
Dasyprocta mexicana Saussure, 1860

The Mexican agouti (Dasyprocta mexicana), also known as the Mexican black agouti, is a species of rodent in the family Dasyproctidae. It is native to lowland evergreen forest and second growth in southern Mexico (Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco), but has also been introduced to Cuba. This critically endangered species is threatened by habitat loss. Its overall blackish color separates it from the only other agouti found in Mexico, the Central American agouti

The agouti are often hunted by people of the Yucatan as they are both a resource for food and a nuisance.

References

1. Vázquez, E., Emmons, L., Reid, F. & Cuarón, A. D. (2008). Dasyprocta mexicana. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 5 January 2009.

• Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1538–1600. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.