Ruatan Island Agouti, or Roatán Island Agouti... or Bay Islands Agouti on Utila?

Some major developments since my last post about Agoutis on Utila.

I connected with Tom Brown at Kanahau, a wildlife conservation organization on Utila. They work to study and protect the critically endangered Baker's Spiny-Tailed Iguana. But of course they are interested in all things biodiversity on Utila.

Tom informed me that the have camera traps which frequently capture Agoutis on Utila, similar to the Honduran study I posted about last time. I went with him and Court Harding to collect the camera traps and monitor "Swampers", aka Ctenosaura bakeri.

Long story short, the camera traps have more evidence of the Agouti (or Guatusa) on Utila. I think it's likely that they are the Ruatan Island species, Dasyprocta-ruatanica, in part because they appear to have black hairs on their ears like this one from Roatán. This contrasts them with the Central American Agouti Dasyprocta punctata which have bald ears like this observation.

Nothing definitive as the camera traps are not a genetic test, but hopefully I can get some more attention on this species on this Utila. I'd be happy to find out I'm wrong if they are introduced Central American Agouti as well!

I believe Kanahau and Tom will be posting more photos of Agoutis in the near future. You can find out more about Kanahau at www.Kanahau.org.

Posted on July 24, 2022 01:49 AM by