Belize Mammals

Mammals are a group of animals with backbones, bodies covered with hair, they suckle their young with milk, and have a unique jaw joint. Mammals are also the group of animals to which humans belong. Belize’s mammals include, but are not limited to, the tapir, monkey, jaguar, gibnut, and kinkajou.

There are two species of monkeys in Belize: Howler and Spider. The monkeys vary in size, with howlers being the largest. Be careful with the monkeys though they are so cute and adorable. Monkeys have been known to throw objects such as stones, fruits, and coconuts at people. Monkeys are just as dangerous as any other animal found in the wild. Jaguars are the largest mammals in Belize, measuring in at six feet in length plus a thirty-inch tail. Like any big cat, jaguars are dangerous and should not be approached or fed.

Pacas are widely known as gibnuts in Belize and are the country’s most prized game animals. The Queen’s Rat is one of many local names given to the Paca. It is said that the Queen of England fed the Paca on one of her visits to Belize. Pacas are rodents like South American capybaras, but they are only half the size and their fur is like a baby deer with white spots.

Because the tapir is the national animal of Belize, it is illegal to hunt and kill it. Belizeans call them “highland cows.” Mostly nocturnal, tapirs eat grass and fruit. Growing up to six feet in length, tapirs are the largest herbivores in Belize. April the tapir is the most famous tapir in Belize. She resides at the Belize Zoo. Every year, sometime in April, Belizeans celebrate April’s birthday with a pony chow cake while local children and visitors come together and sing Happy Birthday April.

Kinkajou, known as “night walkers” in Belize, are cute and lemur-like. Kinkajous are nocturnal animals and they love fruits and insects. At only six pounds and two and a half feet long, including their tail, Kinkajous love to jump from tree to tree high up in the Belizean jungle canopy.

Belize is home to more than 200 species of mammals, birds, and reptiles. The animals listed above are just a few of the many mammals and even fewer animals overall in Belize. I hope you enjoy the wonderful animals of Belize as much as I do!