Characteristics: Measuring 60-80cm in length and weighing 6-12 kilos, with the color of its dorsal fur ranging from smoky-gray to reddish-brown or dark brown and with two to seven series of yellowish-pale circular spots on its flanks arranged in longitudinal lines, which are more numerous in young individuals. Its tail and limbs are short.

Distribution: This species can be found from Mexico to Paraguay, the Guianas to Southern Brazil.

Habitat: It lives in burrows and holes near rivers and lakes where there is developed vegetation, such as forests, savannas, and secondary forests.

Habits: The species is terrestrial, nocturnal and solitary, sometimes found in pairs. Pacas spend the days in their burrows, which has multiple exits that are always hidden by leaves. They generally tread trails in the woods, which are called paths, and travel on such paths daily in search of food.

Diet: Pacas are large rodents, consuming harder plant material, such as tubers, buds, and fallen fruit. They only feed at night when there is no moonlight.

Breeding: The female has her litters in the burrows. They usually have one offspring per litter. They have two complete gestations during the year, in which only a dominant female can procreate, while the remaining ones are physiologically inhibited from this. After 150 days of gestation, two offspring are born and breastfed for 6 months. They reach sexual maturity after a year and a half.

In the UFRA area: In the surveys conducted in the São Francisco Sugarmill farms' fields, this species was limited to native forests, Restored Native Forests, Forests in Spontaneous Regeneration, and drainage ditches. The species was spotted six times and is considered rare on the farms.