Then we dipped our hands into the water and we found pods, whole fruits on the bottom under the water. It was amazing. He shook his head. That way no one could see the nuts, no one could smell them. But the agouti knew, and came back later to retrieve its stash.
Every agouti has a signature.
Like a criminal with a telltale modus operandi , an agouti will open nuts with the same kind of hole every time, at the same point on the pod. Eight other species, including pacas, pacaranas, spiny rats and porcupines, also steal Brazil nuts stored by agoutis. In addition, several frog species owe their survival to the agouti-Brazil nut relationship. Researchers in Brazil found that the poison arrow frog, for one, relies almost exclusively on rain-filled Brazil nut pods for water to get through the tadpole stage. I stopped on the path to catch my breath.