My mom read in Russia that Rio de Janeiro is “a city of stray cats.” We made fun of the clueless author, having hardly seen a single stray cat in the city, until we came upon a downtown park Campo de Santana. The park was packed with stray cats. It was also inhabited by strange creatures that I have never heard of before, which looked like a strange cat-size cross between rats, squirrels and kangaroos. We heard several suggestions about what the animal might be called in Portuguese and verified them via Google Images, until we finally hit the jackpot with “cotia.” From there, we discovered that the English name for the creature is “agouti.” They live in Brazil and the Guineas. Honolulu Zoo website has more information.