agouti

agouti (uh-GOO-tee) - n., any of several short-haired, short-eared, rabbitlike rodents (genus Dasyprocta) of South + Central America and the West Indies with a grizzled dark-brown to orange coat; grizzled fur in various animals produced by alternate bands of light and dark color on each hair shaft; an animal with fur of this pattern.


The fur type being named after the rodent. Adopted around 1720 from French, from Spanish agutí, from a Tupi language (possibly Guaraní) agutí/acutí, the local name for the beastie.


Thanks, Wikimedia Commons.

---L.