Most pacas live alone in burrows, caves, woodpiles, stumps, or rocks. Most females produce two litters a year of one or two young. Pacas come out for food only at night. They eat plants, roots, seeds, and tropical fruit. Pacas also sometimes eat such crops as sugar cane, corn, and yams, and are often hunted in areas where these crops grow.
Hunters also kill pacas for their tasty flesh, which is eaten.
Wild dogs and ocelots also prey on pacas. Pacas belong to the family Agoutidae. The scientific names for the two most common species are Agouti paca and A. taczanowski. Charles A. Long, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Curator of Mammals, Univ. of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. How to cite this article.