pacarana
dinomys branickii latin

The closest living relative to Telicomys is the pacarana.

The two species would have resembled gigantic pacarana, or capybaras the size of cows.

The modern pacarana is only modest sized, considerably smaller than the capybara.

Its nearest living relative is the pacarana, a 30-pound nocturnal herbivore that feeds on the slopes of the Andes.

Dinomyidae was once a very speciose group of South American hystricognath rodent, but now contains only a single living species, the pacarana.

Family Dinomyidae: pacarana (South America)

Josephoartigasia is an extinct genus of giant rodent from the Early to Late Pliocene related to the living pacarana.

J. monesi is sometimes called the giant pacarana, after its closest living relative, the pacarana (Dinomys branickii) in the family Dinomyidae.

Some evidence places the pacarana as closely related to the prehistoric giant rodents that inhabited South America several million years ago, such as Phoberomys pattersoni and Josephoartigasia monesi.

The Pacarana (Dinomys branickii) is a rare and slow-moving nocturnal rodent found only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia, including the yungas.

Owls, and Pacaranas: this exhibit was opened in early 2011 and contains 5 species of owls and 1 specie of mammal which is the pacarana (Dinomys branickii) it has a education centre and a trail with binoculars and telescopes pointing at some owl nests and houses.