It is hard to guess what a Lowland paca weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Lowland paca (Cuniculus paca) on average weights 8.17 kg (18.02 lbs).
The Lowland paca is from the family Cuniculidae (genus: Cuniculus). It is usually born with about 674 grams (1.49 lbs). They can live for up to 16 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 64.7 cm (2′ 2″). On average, Lowland pacas can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 1.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The lowland paca (Cuniculus paca), also known as the spotted paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from East-Central Mexico to Northern Argentina. Introduced to Cuba, Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica and Hispaniola.The animal is called paca in most of its range, but tepezcuintle (original Aztec language name) in most of Mexico and Central America, guardatinaja in Nicaragua, pisquinte in northern Costa Rica, jaleb in the Yucatán peninsula, conejo pintado in Panama, guanta in Ecuador, majás or picuro in Peru, jochi pintado in Bolivia, and boruga, tinajo, or guartinaja in Colombia. It is also known as the gibnut in Belize, where it is prized as a game animal, labba in Guyana, lapa in Venezuela, and lappe on the island of Trinidad. Although lowland pacas are not in danger of being extinct, local extinctions have occurred due to habitat destructions.There is much confusion in the nomenclature of this and related species; see agouti. In particular, the popular term agouti or common agouti normally refers to species of the distinct genus Dasyprocta (such as the Central American agouti, Dasyprocta punctata). Sometimes the word agouti is also used for a polyphyletic grouping uniting the families Cuniculidae and Dasyproctidae, which, besides the pacas and common agoutis, includes also the acouchis (Myoprocta). Cuniculus is the appropriate genus name instead of Agouti based on a 1998 ruling of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature as the lowland paca’s genus.
Animals of the same family as a Lowland paca
We found other animals of the Cuniculidae family:
- Mountain paca bringing 9 kilos (19.84 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Lowland paca
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Cuniculus paca:
- Tonkin snub-nosed monkey with a weight of 9.09 kilos (20.04 lbs)
- Fossa (animal) with a weight of 9.5 kilos (20.94 lbs)
- Diademed sifaka with a weight of 6.58 kilos (14.51 lbs)
- Yellow-tailed woolly monkey with a weight of 8.27 kilos (18.23 lbs)
- American badger with a weight of 7.84 kilos (17.28 lbs)
- Guatemalan black howler with a weight of 7.19 kilos (15.85 lbs)
- North American river otter with a weight of 8.09 kilos (17.84 lbs)
- East Javan langur with a weight of 9.72 kilos (21.43 lbs)
- Raffles’ banded langur with a weight of 7.02 kilos (15.48 lbs)
- Bolivian red howler with a weight of 6.61 kilos (14.57 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Lowland paca
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Lowland paca:
- Northern white-cheeked gibbon with a size of 54.5 cm (1′ 10″)
- Giant forest genet with a size of 57.2 cm (1′ 11″)
- Black-and-white ruffed lemur with a size of 54.7 cm (1′ 10″)
- Brown dorcopsis with a size of 67.9 cm (2′ 3″)
- Arctic hare with a size of 57.2 cm (1′ 11″)
- Neotropical otter with a size of 60.2 cm (2′ 0″)
- Tayra with a size of 61.4 cm (2′ 1″)
- North American river otter with a size of 68.5 cm (2′ 3″)
- Bay cat with a size of 55 cm (1′ 10″)
- Black-footed gray langur with a size of 65.5 cm (2′ 2″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Lowland paca
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Lowland paca:
- Cuvier’s beaked whale
- Mongoose lemur
- Preuss’s red colobus
- Nabarlek
- Suni
- Eisentraut’s shrew
- Gray whale
- Little forest bat
- Common vampire bat
- Bonobo
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Lowland paca
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Lowland paca:
- Golden-backed uakari with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Northern bat with an average maximal age of 15.5 years
- Bates’s pygmy antelope with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Hamlyn’s monkey with an average maximal age of 13.5 years
- White-nosed saki with an average maximal age of 17 years
- Llama with an average maximal age of 14.17 years
- North American porcupine with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Red fox with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Alpine marmot with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Red hartebeest with an average maximal age of 15.25 years