Manuel Antonio's Ghost Rodent: Mystery Solved

A few people that walked through Manuel Antonio National Park, have reported seen a mysterious creature. Some describe it like the ghost of a giant-tail-less squirrel, others like an hear-less rabbit and others like a huge lab rat. None of this descriptions fit on any of the species in the science books. This creature was a total mystery to the park rangers and guides of the park. Some places posses myths that become legends, Canada has its big-foot or sasquash, the Himalayas its yeti, Scotland its LochNess monster and Roswell New Mexico its aliens and flying saucers. The problem with all this is that no one has a picture of them to prove they exist. But with Manuel Antonio´s giant ghost squirrel the story is different. Our resident guide from Arenas del Mar has taken the first picture of it that proves its existence and now the mystery is solved. Our mystical rodent is an agouti, but not any agouti, an albino agouti! Agoutis are very sneaky and shy rodents, and they are brown, thats why the descriptions of this creature didn’t fit any known animal of the area. Albinos are 1 of every 17000. They have a problem trying to produce the pigmentation that will give the right color to their skin. Usually they have very sensitive eyes which are pink or very light blue and their skin is extremely sensitive to the sunlight. From humans to reptiles, birds or amphibians can have this problem. An albino animal is anyway an extremely rare creature, but is even rarer that they reach their maturity. This is not just because of their sensitive eyes and skin, but because they are really easy to find by their predators, even at night, the reason why… they totally lack of a camouflage. Our friend the albino agouti has been really lucky so far because it is full grown already and it seems that it has learned well how to take care of itself. Really lucky indeed, considering that Manuel Antonio’s wetlands are home of caimans and crocodiles and the boa constrictor is a fairly common snake in the area. So check out well the picture because that’s the first picture ever taken of an albino agouti in the world, a rarity. And we encourage you to visit Manuel Antonio yourself and try to find the albino agouti, formerly called a myth, now ascended to the rank of living legend.