Where does agouti come from?

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This topic has 23sd replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 2 months ago by cactuspancake.

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- 02/08/2011 at 3:43 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  The use of the word agouti, I mean. I know it is used to refer to coloring that looks like wild rabbits. It is also used to describe color for other animals as well. I always thought it was funny because the agouti is a rodent. They were running around everywhere in Costa Rica. Apparently they really liked citrus fruit. Anyway, did the use of agouti to describe the multi-colored hairs come about because the coloring resembles the actual animal’s coloring?
- 02/08/2011 at 6:33 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  Hmm, it would make sense that the coloring is named after the rodent. I just looked up “agoutis” on Wikipedia..5 front toes, 3 back toes! How interesting, hmm. But speaking of coloring patterns named after other animals, why “otter”? It doesn’t even look like an otter at all! lol
- 02/08/2011 at 7:29 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  Yes, agoutis are interesting little critters. It was so funny too. When I was in Costa Rica, I mean. There was this German guy there who said “I’m a $@%&ing biologist and I have no clue what these things are!” I knew what they were. Not because I am a biologist (which I am), but because they have them at the zoo here. Hehe!
  
  As for the use of the word otter, perhaps it depends on the otter. This one has tan on its underside.
- 02/08/2011 at 8:09 PM
  Kokaneeandkahlua
  Participant
  12067 posts
  Hmmmm Good question!
  
  I would imagine since Agouti means ‘wild type’ for coloring…perhaps it roughly translates to wild something that was originally used to describe south american rodents?
- 02/08/2011 at 9:21 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  Speaking of South American rodents, there is also a rabbit color called chinchilla. Says it is like agouti, just gray instead of brown. A standard chinchilla (the animal) has multi-colored hairs, so maybe that does mean that the agouti color is named after the agouti.
- 02/08/2011 at 9:27 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  Here’s a good picture of an agouti, it does appear that the agouti has agouti fur.
- 02/08/2011 at 10:13 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  Hehe that sure looks like a disapproving otter
  
  lol, funny story about your travels! What funny little critters…now you’ve got me googling the musculature/phylogeny of agouti paws! (Biologist, or at least biology major, here as well )
- 02/09/2011 at 6:03 AM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  I just did some digging into the etymology of “agouti” (I’m a linguistics nerd :-P) and it comes from an indigenous South American language (guarani), then into Spanish, then to French before coming to the English language in the 1600 or 1700s. I’m guessing that the native S. Americans used this word for the agouti critter and then Europeans adopted the word to describe more familiar wild animals like rabbits. That last part was just a guess though – I can’t find any specific information for why it was originally adopted by the Europeans from the natives.
- 02/09/2011 at 8:32 AM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  Peppypoo – Oh really? What area of biology are you interested in? And yes, that guy was hilarious!
  
  Elrohwen – That is very interesting! And I think your logic makes sense.
- 02/09/2011 at 9:33 AM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  My major was human biology, and my classes tended to veer more on the cellular/molecular side of things (in medical school now), but I’ve also taken a good handful of evolution/developmental biology classes with plenty of animal models Yay biology!
- 02/09/2011 at 9:40 AM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  If you like evolution, you should take a course in bioinformatics. If they offer it at your university, that is.
- 02/09/2011 at 9:54 AM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  all of these animals with agouti fur look disapproving. i love you grumpy animals!
- 02/09/2011 at 10:49 AM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  They do look grumpy, don’t they?
- 02/09/2011 at 10:53 AM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  Yep
  
  I’m curious as to how bunnies with the white chin, tan behind their head, and white/tan bellies are called ‘otters.’
  I own a black otter.. so.. why the otter ?
- 02/09/2011 at 12:07 PM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  I think, like LBJ pointed out, it might be because real otters have similar coloring with the tan chin and belly.
- 02/09/2011 at 12:48 PM
  peppypoo
  Participant
  1945 posts
  There seem to be a lot of tan-bellied animals, and otters don’t look PARTICULARLY as rabbit-otter-ish. But then again, there are tons of agouti-colored animals, and somehow the coloring got named “agouti”. Funny how things work out eh. LBJ, what area of bio do you work in?
- 02/09/2011 at 3:09 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  Peppy, I’m a lot of things but right now I’m mostly conservation biology and ecology. I’m in grad school right now and I also work there at the university. I used to work in a microbiology lab though, so I know about that sort of stuff too.
- 02/09/2011 at 8:21 PM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  That otter looks like a diva.
- 02/11/2011 at 8:47 AM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  Haha, I love the otter pose too. Otters are one of my favorite animals!
- 02/12/2011 at 11:43 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Posted By LBJ10 on 02/08/2011 09:21 PM
  Speaking of South American rodents, there is also a rabbit color called chinchilla. Says it is like agouti, just gray instead of brown. A standard chinchilla (the animal) has multi-colored hairs, so maybe that does mean that the agouti color is named after the agouti.
  
  I read exactly that recently, that the name of the rabbit colour chinchilla comes from the chinchilla animal. I just can’t remember where I read it.
  
  Oh and speaking of otters… this video footage is too cute. It’s been around a while. I figure since there was mention of otters and with valentines day coming up…..well, this video can be snuck in here. lol
- 02/12/2011 at 1:57 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  I love that video! It’s one of my favorites! It was so sad when she died. =(
- 02/13/2011 at 3:59 PM
  RabbitPam
  Moderator
  11002 posts
  I hadn’t seen that before. I posted it on Facebook for tomorrow. (That is sad.)
- 02/13/2011 at 6:43 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17103 posts
  Yeah, she was one of the last otters from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. She had some sort of leukemia, it was so sad.
  
  Oh gosh, now I have to watch that video again because it is just so cute!
- 02/14/2011 at 11:02 PM
  cactuspancake
  Participant
  536 posts
  LOL @ the pics in this thread OTTERS BAAAAM!!! I’m giggling haha
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