Dasyprocta leporina cayana

Red Rumped Agoutis are approximately two feet long, with a short tail, and weigh 4 to 5 pounds. Their long legs are adapted for fast running. Although their ears are small, they have excellent hearing. The coat is coarse and glossy, and the coloration is brown to black with a yellow to white under belly. The agouti is out during the daytime (diurnal), although if threatened it will not come out to feed until dusk. They live in excavated burrows under rocks, between tree roots, or in sloping banks. They can jump vertically nearly six feet. They often sit with their bodies erect and their ankles flat on the ground so they can dart off at full speed if threatened.

Breeding is seasonal when fruit is in abundance. By eating the fruit they are important seed dispensers for fruit plants to reproduce again the next year. Newborns are fully furred with their eyes open, and are able to run in their first hour after birth. Agoutis are reported to live as mated pairs until death.