In 1991, some swedish DNA scientist did research on the guinea pigs DNA and discovered that they were NOT related to rodents and have been misclassified earlier. My goodness, they aren't anything like a rat: they have only two teats, get can't see as well as a rat, they can hear twice as good as a human, and their babies are born with hair, eyes, and full set of teeth. Heck, they can eat the same food as the parents a couple of hours after they are born. They are just minitures of their parents. I believe the scientist, how about you? So take off the sign on this forum that says guinea pigs are rodents. Ok?
Hello, I'm new to this site. I love my piggies, I don't care whether they are rodents or not, they are my little friends. You can see them at http://afurrylife.blogspot.com/
An article in scientific american argued of the possibility of them being in a whole new family called Cavia. The author based this argument off slight differences in guinea pig teeth as compared to other rodents. However I believe they are still rodents for several reasons there are numerous similarities, like there large eyes, rapid breeding habits, similair diets, teeth and anatomy. Thier differences are explainable, they are born with thier eyes and ears open, they are able to walk just minutes after birth because of a longer gestation period. They have this because guinea pigs are unable to make burrows and babies need to develop in the womb. they do not have tails like other rodents because they have no need for them because they do not stand on thier hind legs. You follow.
I never thought of them as rodents anyway. When I think of a rodent, it brings to mind a rat or mouse...something that some people might consider a pest. Could you immagine anybody calling an exterminator on a guinea pig?
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Here's a link about this topic
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.hhtm