Lowland Paca Skull Replica

Description

Lowland Paca Skull Replica measures 5.2 inches. Lowland Paca Skull Replica is museum-quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium and mandible). 1:1 scale. Made in USA.

A Paca (from Tupí paka) is a member of the genus Cuniculus of ground-dwelling, herbivorous rodents in South and Central America. It is the only genus in the family Cuniculidae. Pacas are large rodents with dots and stripes on their sides, short ears, and barely visible tails.

Pacas are eaten by people in Belize, where they are known as “gibnut” and, having been served to Queen Elizabeth II, “the royal rat”. In the Amazon basin they are known as “majás”. In Guyanese English, it is known as labba from Arawak.

Pacas originated in South America and are one of the few mammal species that successfully emigrated to North America after the Great American Interchange 3 million years ago. They were formerly grouped with the agoutis in the family Dasyproctidae, subfamily Agoutinae, but were given full family status because they differ in the number of toes, the shape of the skull, and coat patterning.

Pacas are 20–30 in. in length, excluding the 5–9 in. short tail, weigh 13–31 lb., and are the sixth-largest rodents in the world. Similar to guinea pigs, they have square heads, small ears, sides patterned with spots and stripes, and virtually invisible tails.

With large hind limbs, small fore limbs, and cone-shaped bodies, pacas are similar in appearance to the deer-like, ungulate chevrotains, and like them have four to seven horizontal lines of blotches and stripes along their flanks.

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Rodentia
• Infraorder: Hystricognathi
• Parvorder: Caviomorpha
• Superfamily: Cavioidea
• Family: Cuniculidae
• Genus: Cuniculus
• Binomial name: Cuniculus paca Miller & Gidley, 1918
• Conservation Status: Least Concern