Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle has baby Agoutis!

Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

Adorable, aren’t they? I stole the photos from the zoo article. You’ll have to click on the link at the end to see the official article.

Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

I first saw agoutis in Panama. They were everywhere, big tail-less fruit eating ground squirrels. Like squirrels, they are curious and approachable, and very very fast.

Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

The best part of agoutis happens when they get pouffy. Unlike capybaras who get pouffy all over (It’s actually called piloerection), agoutis only get half pouffy. That’s right, the back half gets all sticky-outy while the front half stays sleek and smooth. They look like half-baked tacky ballerinas.

Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

I saw them in Brazil, too. They are the perfect size for a pet. They’re friendly, cute, and I began to wonder why we don’t see them in the pet trade. Then I saw them in Arizona, at a breeding facility. Same thing: cute, friendly, perfect size. So why not pet agoutis?

Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

It’s because of the way they hide their food. They hide all of their food, and then find it later when they want to eat it. And–this is the good part– they urinate on the food to make it easier to find. And nobody else has eaten it! Ugh. So that’s why nobody keeps them as pets.

Agouti in Panama

Isn’t it nice that zoos have them for us to observe, in case it’s not convenient for us to travel to Panama?

Here’s the link to the Woodland Park Zoo article:

https://blog.zoo.org/2020/03/birth-announcement-agouti-pups-rhymes.html