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Thursday 14 May 2015

Guinea Pig

Guinea pigs were first domesticated by the Incas, who used them for food, in sacrifices, and as household pets.

Guinea pigs first appeared in Europe in the 1500s.


Theodore Roosevelt had guinea pigs called Admiral Dewey, Bishop Doane, Dr Johnson, Father O’Grady and Fighting Bob Evans.

Diana, Princess of Wales, won a school award for having the ‘best-kept guinea pig’ —  it was her pet Peanuts.

In August 2013 the National Portrait Gallery uncovered possibly the earliest portraits of a pet guinea pig dating from 1580.

The earliest use of the term guinea pig for a human subject of an experiment was in 1920.

They can live up to eight years, however the longest-living guinea pig, Snowball, died in Bingham, England, aged 14 years 10½ months.

In Switzerland it is illegal to own only one guinea pig because they’re social animals prone to loneliness.

Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million guinea pigs a year.

Guinea pigs are not pigs and have nothing to do with Guinea in West Africa.

Guinea pigs are born fully developed with grown hair, open functional eyes and fully grown teeth. They start running around within a few hours and start consuming solid food within a day.

Guinea pigs' teeth never stop growing. They constantly have to grind them down on toys or other things.


Guinea pigs have four toes on their front feet and three on their hind feet.

Both Guinea pigs and rabbits can't sweat.

The body temperature of Guinea pigs ranges from 99 to 103 degrees. Since they have such high average body temperature, they are vulnerable to summer heat and direct sunlight.

Guinea pigs purr like cats when they're happy.

Rumblestrutting is a guinea pig behavior in which they strut around each other shaking their backsides low to emit a rumbling sound. It can sound a lot like purring, but it's part of their herd rituals to determine dominance.

When excited, guinea pigs will often run around and hop wildly into the air. This is known as "popcorning".

Guinea pigs always march in single file, with the largest guinea pig at the front and the youngest in the middle.

The world record for the fastest 10 metres (32.81ft) by a guinea pig is 8.81 seconds

The unofficial record for the longest jump by a guinea pig is 48cm (18.9in).

Sources Popsugar.comFactualfacts.comDaily Express

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