Guinea pig

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Guinea Pigs
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Guinea Pigs

Guinea Pigs are small animals. They are mammals. Their scientific name is Cavia porcellus. They are also called cavies. Porcellus is Latin for little pig. But Guinea Pigs are not pigs, nor are they from Guinea.

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[edit] Guinea pigs as pets

In many parts of the world, people keep them as pets. In Peru, Bolivia, and several other countries, they are grown for food. The first people who domesticated the animals, did it for food. Beside a pet, and a source of food, guinea pigs are also thought to keep bad spirits away (At least in those regions). In Quechua], the language of the native tribes of peru, they are called quivi. The Spanish-speaking people of the region call them cuy (plural: cuyes).

[edit] Name of the beast

This perception of pigginess occurred in many languages other than English; the German word for them is Meerschweinchen, literally "Little Sea Pigs" (sailing ships stopping to reprovision in the New World would pick up stores of guinea pigs, which provided an easily transportable source of fresh meat), the Russian and Polish word for them is similar, "morskaya svinka" (Морская свинка) and "świnka morska" respectively, meaning also "Little Sea Pig" (it comes from archaic use of the word to mean "overseas"). The French word is Cochon d'Inde, (Indian pig), the Dutch used to call it guinees biggetje (Guinean piglet), and in Norway, Sweden and Denmark they are called marsvin (a combination of the Latin word mare for ocean, and Norwegian/Swedish/Danish svin which means pig). In Greek they are called 'indika xoiridia' (Small Indian Pigs ; ινδικά χοιρίδια), and in Portuguese, the term is "porquinho da Índia", literally "little pig of the Indies". In Italian the term is either "Porcellino D'India" (Little Indian Pig) or "Cavia Peruviana" (Peruvian Cavy). However, this perception of pigginess is not universal to all languages or cultures. For example, the common Spanish word is 'conejillo de Indias' (Indian bunny rabbit).

[edit] Breeding guinea pigs

Guinea pigs need large open air cages in which to romp and frolic. They should have a diet of 1/8 cup of high quality pellets like kmshayloft or oxbow, they should also have unlimited grass hay, and at least one cup of a variety of veggies see guuinealynx.com or cavycages.com.

[edit] Other uses of the word

Guinea pig is also slang for a person who is the first to try something. It can also mean the subject of an experiment. This is because guinea pigs are used by scientists to do biology experiments.

Look up Cavia (Caviinae) in Wikispecies, a directory of species


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