Guinea Pig

The scientific name of the guinea pig is Cavia porcellus. The Rex guinea pig is one of the domesticated species for the South American peoples. These are the kind of rodents that belongs to the cavy family  Caviidae. Guinea pigs have the characteristics of all other species in cavies, which have a robust body with large heads, short limbs and eyes with short ears. The feet of wild guinea pigs have hairless soles and short sharp claws. Generally, the guinea pigs contain four toes on the forefeet and three on the hind feet.  Several breeds of guinea pigs are domesticated and they are sometimes grouped by coat texture and hair length. Sometimes, the term guinea pig is also used colloquially to refer to a person who serves as a test subject in an experiment.

While comparing to rodents, the domesticated guinea pigs look fairly large and their weight is about 500 to 1,500 grams. The length of the guinea pigs body is about 20 to 40 cm. The tails of guinea pigs are not visible externally. The rex guinea pig has a crest of long hairs near its neck but the length and texture of the fur vary from smooth to coarse and short or long and silky. The colour of the guinea pigs is extremely variable. The coat of guinea pigs may be white, tan, cream, reddish or chocolate brown, black, or other combined patterns.

Guinea pig foods are plants, fruits and vegetables. They do not require water to drink if they get sufficiently moist food. But, they require water while they are intaking dry commercial food. The rex guinea pigs can breed at any time in a year. The female guinea pig can reproduce up to 13 young littles per gestation period. Further, their gestation period lasts for about 68 days.  The young guinea pig food is also solid foods. They start intaking solid food from the day they born. 

The female guinea pig will attain their maturity in two months and the male guinea pigs will attain their maturity in three months from their birth month.  The domesticated imprisoned guinea pigs can live up to eight years, although three to five years is also normal.

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History of Guinea Pig 

No natural wild guinea pigs population exists in this world.  These guinea pigs are apparently domesticated and kept in guinea pig cage from more than 3000 years ago in Peru. And they are coincident with human beings and they are transited from a nomadic to an agricultural lifestyle. Inka Empire, the largest empire in pre-Columbian America kept guinea pigs, and other animals, which were bred during the same period by various people who lived along the Andes Mountains from northwestern Venezuela to central Chile. Further, these rodents are remaining an important food source for the native peoples of Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. Those people will keep the guinea pig cage in their homes or allow them to scavenge freely both indoors and out. 

Later, during the 16th century, the guinea pigs were taken to European countries. During 1800’s the guinea pigs have become popular pets among the European people. Later, they started using globally as laboratory animals for the study of genetics, anatomy, pathology, nutrition, serum development, toxicology, and other research programs.

Taxonomy of Guinea Pig 

The origin of the colloquial name guinea pig has still remained debatable among researchers. As per the researches, the first phrase of the name may be derived from the price of the animal during the 16th and 17th century of England.  Or it may be named as ‘Guinea’ as this animal are carried to European markets after first being transferred to ships in ports in Guinea. Some suggested that the name was originated as the mispronounced form of the word Guiana, from where the guinea pig was collected initially.  Another possible etymology behind the name ‘guinea pigs’  is from the name of the class of ships ‘the Guineamen’ through which the guinea pigs are transported from one place to another. These were vessels, which are made port in West Africa as part of the transatlantic slave trade. The second part of the name of the animal is also originated with Europeans. They compared the squealing sound of the animal made by the pig and named the species. 

Still, there are five non - domesticated members leftover in the genus of Cavia, which is also called guinea pigs. The Brazilian guinea pig whose scientific name is C. aperea was found in Venezuela, Colombia, and the Guianas south to northern Argentina. C. fulgida is the shiny guinea pig that is inhabiting eastern Brazil. The montane guinea pig with the scientific name of C. tschudii is mostly available from Peru to northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. The C. magna is the greater guinea pigs that are mostly spread over in southeastern Brazil and Uruguay. C. intermedia is the scientific name of Moleques do Sul guinea pig, which has limited geographical location on the island in the Moleques do Sul archipelago off the southern coast of Brazil. According to the Breeding and molecular studies, all the domestic guinea pig species were derived from one of the wild Brazilian, shiny, or montane species.

Characteristics of Guinea Pig

Behaviour of Guinea Pig

Guinea pigs are following complex food structures and they have the capability to remember a learned path for months. Usually, Guinea pigs have the strongest problem-solving strategy is motion. They can make small jumps to cross obstacles but cannot make a very high jump. They can sense their surroundings through smell, touch, hear earlier and predict their danger. Also, guinea pigs are good swimmers but they do not like to get wet and infrequently need bathing.  Like rodents, guinea pigs participate in social grooming and are regular self-groomers. A milky-white substance secreted from their eyes will rub them in their hairs and process grooming. Guinea pigs show dominance through established through piloerection, biting, aggressive noises, head thrusts, and leaping attacks. Guinea pigs do not have proper eyesight like a human being, but they have a wide-angle vision of about 340° 

Guinea pigs have different biological rhythm from their wild counterparts, they have active long periods and a short period of sleep in between. Their activity is scattered throughout the day but they avoid intense light and no regular circadian patterns are apparent. 

Guinea Pig Diet 

The guinea pigs follow the natural diet with vegetable, grass and fruits. Their molar teeth are particularly suitable for grinding plant matter and grow continuously throughout their life. Also, guinea pigs have longer colons than many other rodents. Some Guinea pigs can also consume their own faeces, but produce special soft pellets, called cecotropes. This improves the recycle B vitamins, fibre, and bacteria required for proper digestion. If the animal present in a guinea pig cage, cecotropes are eaten directly from the anus, unless the guinea pig is pregnant or obese. 

Guinea pigs are also cannot synthesize their own vitamin C, which is essential to their body and so, they must obtain their vital nutrients from food. If guinea pigs do not have enough vitamin C, they will suffer from potentially fatal scurvy. Wild guinea pigs require about 10mg of vitamin C for their daily life, so they acquire them for the vegetation. Further, the guinea pig requires a complex balance of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and hydrogen ions; but adequate amounts of vitamins A, D, and E for healthy diets. 

The poor dieted guinea pigs may cause muscular dystrophy, metastatic calcification, difficulties with pregnancy, vitamin deficiencies, and teeth problems. Usually, the guinea pigs do not respond better to sudden changes in their diet and they may stop eating and starve rather than accept new food types. Many wild guinea pigs require a preferable quantity of hay. If the guinea pigs could not find enough food, they will develop the habit of chewing their hair. As their teeth grow constantly, they have a habit of chewing on cloth, paper, plastic, and rubber

Some plants are poisonous to guinea pigs, like bracken, bryony, buttercup, charlock, deadly nightshade, foxglove, hellebore, hemlock, lily of the valley, mayweed, monkshood, privet, ragwort, rhubarb, speedwell, toadflax, and wild celery.

Reproduction in Guinea Pigs 

Usually, the young male guinea pigs reach their sexual maturity in 3–5 weeks. Likewise, a young female reaches their sexual maturity in the early 4 years. But, a female guinea pig can get fertile as early as 4 weeks old and they can carry their little baby before they attain full maturity. Generally, the guinea pigs can breed year-round, which is peaks in the spring season. After the gestation period of guinea pigs, they can give birth to five little once a year. But as per the theoretical research, six little ones are possible. The wild guinea pigs can also become pregnant after 6–48 hours of giving birth, but it is not good for the health of female guinea pig 

The gestation period of a rex guinea pig can last from 59 days to 72 days on average, their gestation period lasts for 63 to 68 days. As the rex guinea pig has a long gestation period and the large size of the pups, the pregnant animal may become large and eggplant-shaped, although the change in size and shape varies depending upon the size and number of the offspring. The number of offspring after a single gestation period ranges from one to six, on average they can give birth to three litter.  As per the record, the largest litter size can range at 9. The female guinea pig has only two nipples, but they can readily raise the more average-sized litters of 2 to 4 pups. The lack of access to the mother's milk also shows little effect on the mortality rate of newborns.

Female Guinea pigs have a habitat to assist in mothering duties if they are lactating. Some guinea pigs will also practise alloparental care, which means they adopt the pups of another. Animals will undergo alloparental care if their original parents die or separate for any reasons. This behaviour can also commonly seen in many other species such as the elephant.

Many female guinea pigs face a problem, toxemia of pregnancy, which means hypertension during pregnancy. Signs of toxemia are anorexia (loss of appetite), excessive salivation,  lack of energy, a sweet or fruity breath odour due to ketones, and seizures in advanced cases. Usually, Pregnancy toxemia in guinea pigs appears to be most common in hot climates. Other serious complications that are facing during pregnancy include the prolapsed uterus, hypocalcaemia, and mastitis. Female guinea pigs, which could not give birth may develop an irreversible fusing or calcified cartilage of the pubic symphysis, a joint in the pelvis, animals can experience this after six months of age.  If they become pregnant after this period, the birth canal of guinea pigs may not widen sufficiently, which may lead to dystocia and the death of litter, while they attempt to give birth.

Conclusion 

The Guinea pigs are well-known pets, from the South American continents. They are lovely species. They can live for several years while comparing to other small pets. So, many people prefer Guinea pig. Usually, Guinea pigs do not bite, until they are facing any issues or difficulty. But insufficient Guinea pigs cage maintenance and poor health animal can cause odour.