agouti
/əˈɡuːti
/noun (plural same or agoutis)
1A large long-legged burrowing rodent related to the guinea pig, native to Central and South America.
- Genera Cuniculus and Dasyprocta, family Dasyproctidae: several species.
- There are many possibilities, especially for comparative research in mole rats, agouti, gerbils and elephant shrews.
- These include the capybara, the agouti, the coypu, the cavy and the chinchilla.
1.1 [mass noun] Fur in which each hair has alternate dark and light bands, producing a grizzled appearance.The dorsal hair shows so-called agouti pattern....
- In mice, as in many other mammals, the wild-type pigmentation pattern of the fur is called agouti.
- If they can see a tabby pattern in the fur, then the cat must be agouti, whereas if the colors are solid then the cat is nonagouti.
1.2A rodent, especially a mouse, having agouti fur.Fig 2 shows the chemical analysis of melanins from dorsal midline fur of adult agouti mutant mice....
- Many genetics texts include examples of agouti and black in mice.
- Crossings between dark variants and gray agoutis only produced agoutis.
Origin
Mid 16th century: via French or from Spanish aguti, from Tupi akutí.