The acrobatic cavy (''
Kerodon
The genus ''Kerodon'' (vernacular name Mocos; Rock Cavies) contains two species of South American rock cavies, related to capybaras and guinea pigs.
They are found in semiarid regions of northeast Brazil known as the Caatinga. This area has a roc ...
acrobata'') also known as the Acrobatic Moco and Climbing Cavy is a
cavy
Caviidae, the cavy family, is composed of rodents native to South America and includes the domestic guinea pig, wild cavies, and the largest living rodent, the capybara. They are found across South America in open areas from moist savanna to tho ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
native to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in the
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
rainforest. It is found from
Goiás
Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goi ...
state to
Tocantins
Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 20 ...
state, west of the Espigão Mestre,
Serra Geral
The Serra Geral (General Mountains) is a mountain range in southern Brazil, constituting the southern portion of the Serra do Mar system which runs along Brazil's southeastern coast. The Serra Geral runs parallel to the Atlantic coast in Santa ...
de Goiás, and is also found in
Terra Ronca State Park.
Diet
They are herbivores known to eat a generalized diet of leaves, flowers, bud, bark and fruit
from 16 different types of native plantations.
Habitat
Found in seasonally dry areas of the Amazon rainforest , often in limestone outcrops and emerge to forage and climb trees.
Appearance
Acrobatic Cavies are a large rodent averaging 1 kg in weight, their fur ranges from dark grey to light brown with orange-brown feet, mostly observed on hindfeet. Their tails are
vestigial
Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...
.
Phylogeny
The Acrobatic Cavy belongs to the order Rodentia, in the family Caviidae (Guinea-pig like rodents) which has two subfamilies (formerly three) with Acrobatic Cavies being in a new subfamily
Hydrochaerinae alongside
Capybaras and the closely related
Rock Cavy
The rock cavy or ''mocó'' (''Kerodon rupestris'') is a cavy species endemic to eastern Brazil which has also been introduced to the Atlantic island of Fernando de Noronha.
The rock cavy is called ''mocó'' in Brazilian Portuguese, and ''koriko ...
from Eastern
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
References
"
Kerodon acrobata Moojen, Locks & Langguth 1997 - Plazi TreatmentBank'".
treatment.plazi.org'. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
de Souza Portella, Alexandre; Vieira, Emerson M. (2016-07-01). "
Diet and trophic niche breadth of the rare acrobatic cavy Kerodon acrobata (Rodentia: Caviidae) in a seasonal environment'". ''Mammal Research''. 61 (3): 279–287.
doi:10.1007/s13364-016-0275-z.
ISSN
An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...
2199-241X.
Cavies
Mammals of Brazil
Mammals described in 1997
Endemic fauna of Brazil
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