Native to South America, what kind of animal is a pacarana?

The pacarana (Dinomys branickii) is a rare and slow-moving hystricognath rodent indigenous to South America. Native peoples of the region call it the pacarana (false paca) because it is superficially similar to the paca, a different rodent which is not in the same family. The pacarana has a chunky body and is large for a rodent, weighing up to 15 kg (33 lb) and measuring up to 79 cm (31 in) in length, not including the thick, furry tail.

The pacarana is nocturnal and occurs only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains. It ranges from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia, including the Yungas. It is common in Cotapata National Park in Bolivia.

Pacaranas typically are found in family groups of four or five.