Pacas have unusually large cheek pouches. The pouches form roomy chambers that help the animal make sounds. Pacas are found from central Mexico south to Paraguay, and in the Andes Mountains of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. They live in forests, usually near rivers. Pacas are good swimmers and often escape from enemies by water.
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.