PACARANA

also called Branick's Rat (Dinomys branickii), rare South American rodent of the valleys and lower slopes of the Andes Mountains. The only living member of the family Dinomyidae (order Rodentia), the pacarana is a diurnal, terrestrial rodent that eats leaves, fruit, and other vegetation. The pacarana is heavy bodied and has small ears, a relatively large head, and coarse, white-spotted, black or brown fur. Large for a rodent, it attains a length of about 90 to 100 centimetres (35 to 39 inches) including its thick, hairy tail.