Facts
1. A guinea pig is also known as cavy.
2. A male guinea pig is called a boar
3. A female guinea pig is called a sow
4. A baby guinea pig is called a pup
5. There are about 9 different species of guinea pig
6. Guinea pigs come from South Africa
7. Guinea pigs grind their food in a front to back motion as opposed to the rabbit which grinds with a side to side motion
8. People also eat guinea pigs but this is rare in Egland
9. Guinea pigs cannot make their own vitamin C
10. A female deliverys an averge of 3 guinea pigs when giving birth
11. The longest living guinea pig was 15 years old and went in the guiness book of records
12. Guinea pigs are herbivorous
13. Many famous people have kept guinea pigs as pets - including Princess Diana
14. The guinea pig is currently classified as a Rodent
15. Guinea pigs are herd animals - in the wild they live in large social groups led by a dominant boar - this boar is the only male in the herd who is allowed to breed with the female. It is due to this reason that problems arise when keeping more than 2 males together - especially if there are females nearby - they all want to be the dominant male.
16. Wild Guinea pigs are most active at night
17. Guinea pigs appeared in Europe in the 1500's
18. Guinea pigs and humans don't make their own vitamin C, so they must always eat fresh vegetables.
19. In the wild they live in groups of 5-10.
20. A young Guinea pig can run when it is only three hours old!
21. In America Guinea pigs are called Cavies.
22. They are often used for medical research. That's where we get the term "Guinea Pig" from to describe somebody who volunteers to take part in a test.
23. Some species of wild Cavy can be as long as a metre.
