Real guinea pigs

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Real guinea pigs
Common guinea pig (Cavia aperea)

Common guinea pig ( Cavia aperea )

Systematics
Subordination : Porcupine relatives (Hystricomorpha)
Partial order : Hystricognathi
without rank: Guinea Pig Relatives (Caviomorpha)
Family : Guinea pigs (Caviidae)
Subfamily : Actual guinea pigs (Caviinae)
Genre : Real guinea pigs
Scientific name
Cavy
Pallas , 1766

The real guinea pigs ( Cavia ) are a genus of mammals from the family of the guinea pigs (Caviidae) within the order of rodents (Rodentia). The five to eight species of this genus include the common guinea pig ( C. aperea ) and the house guinea pig ( C. porcellus ).

distribution

Real guinea pigs are common in large parts of South America , they are only missing in the Amazon basin and in the extreme south of the continent. The breeding of domestic guinea pigs as food and pets has increased their living space.

description

Guinea pigs living in the wild can reach a head body length of 20 to 40 centimeters and a weight of 500 to 1500 grams. Their long and relatively coarse fur is grayish or brown in color. The legs are short and strong, the front feet have four and the hind feet three toes, all of which end in sharp claws. The teeth are - in contrast to the yellow-toothed guinea pigs ( Galea ) - colored white, the tooth formula is as with all guinea pigs 1-0-1-3, so a total of 20 teeth.

Way of life

These animals inhabit a number of habitats, including grasslands, forest edges, wetlands and mountain regions up to over 4,200 meters above sea level. They are crepuscular animals that prefer burrows they have dug themselves or natural caves for shelter. (Hence their scientific name, Cavia , is derived.) They live in groups of five to ten animals, which often join together to form larger supergroups. In the group, each gender develops its own ranking, which is established through struggles.

food

House guinea pigs ( Cavia porcellus )

Guinea pigs are herbivores that feed on a variety of plants, mainly grasses, depending on their habitat. Like humans, they depend on vitamin C in their food and develop scurvy if they are deficient . Another specialty is the vital eating of the appendix excrement . These relatively soft balls of feces are excreted and immediately taken up again because they contain important bacteria that help maintain the intestinal flora. In addition, the appendix covers the entire vitamin B requirement and large parts of the vitamin K requirement.

Reproduction

Real guinea pigs can reproduce all year round, but the majority of births occur in spring. The gestation period is between 56 and 74 days, the litter size in the wild between one and five, in domestic guinea pigs, however, sometimes more. The newborns flee the nest, walk on the first day of life and can eat solid food. After three weeks they are weaned; Females become sexually mature after two months and males after four to five weeks (or 300 g). In human care, their age can be eight years.

Real guinea pigs and humans

The Riems guinea pig monument commemorates their use as test animals at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in research into foot and mouth disease since the 1920s.

Guinea pigs were originally domesticated for their meat and are used in some South American Andean states such as B. Peru still likes to be kept as farm animals for consumption. They are a popular grill delicacy there and taste like a combination of rabbit and dark chicken. The nutritious meat has a protein content of approx. 21% and only a fat content of 8%. In the Andean highlands in particular, they are an important source of protein and have long been an integral part of traditional folk medicine; In Peru, the consumption of guinea pigs is said to cure diseases and bring good luck. The guinea pigs are so popular as livestock in these countries because their keeping requires little space compared to other meat-giving pets and they also reproduce very quickly. This fact is a great advantage for people, especially in an urban environment. In Peru alone, around 65 million guinea pigs are eaten every year and they have long been an integral part of the food culture there. A famous painting of the Last Supper in the main cathedral of Cusco shows Christ and the twelve apostles eating guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs are sometimes used for animal experiments . The English word for guinea pig is synonymous with the German "guinea pig".

Systematics

The number of species in this genus and the origin of the domestic guinea pig are still unclear. Woods & Kilpatrick (2005) , who consider a review of the system to be necessary, distinguish six types:

They assign Cavia guianae as a subspecies to the common guinea pig, Cavia nana and Cavia anolaimae as synonyms to the Tschudi guinea pig and the house guinea pig.

literature

  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  • Charles A. Woods, William Kilpatrick: Infraorder Hystricognathi . In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference . 3. Edition. 2 volumes. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 , pp. 1538-1600 (English).

Web links

Commons : Real Guinea Pigs  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Martin Morales: Ceviche - Peruvian cuisine . Fackelträger Verlag, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-7716-4551-9 , p. 111 .
  2. Deutschlandradio Kultur / Ana Radic: Guinea pigs for the Last Supper ; accessed on April 9, 2013