Are guinea pigs rodents-the science

Reenie

Reenie

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Until 5 minutes ago, I would have said that guinea pigs are quite categorically rodents. However, someone commented that there is a bit of a debate in the scientific world, so I googled it and found this article. Guinea Pigs Not Rodents? DNA Weighing In.
Sooo - what do we think? What side of the debate are you on? I just notice that the article is from 1996, so there may be a definitive answer by now, lol
 
Yeah, I heard about the debate. I am allergic to all rodents (as a matter of fact, all animals) but when I was tested guinea pig's were on the non allergic response for me. The doctor told my parents that it might be because guinea pigs are not "True" rodents. My mother and I tend to believe that they are not rodents.
Just a little question though... If guinea pigs were rodents don't you think they would have rodentia in their name instead of cavia porcellus?
 
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with how naming works, so I've no idea if that's significant. Rodent or not, I love them just the same, I was just interested in their classification.
 
Rodent Evolution: Back to the Root
A lot of the above article is above my head, but it appears that as of when this research was conducted in 2010, guinea pigs are, based on a molecular analysis of the genome, still part of the rodent family, though belonging to a branch that split off from the mouse/rat family a very long time ago, and the squirrel family a little more recently than that. Since Rodentia is the largest order of mammals, there is a lot of variety within that family tree!
 
Guinea pigs are classed under the family caviidae, which is a sub family of rodentia composed of South American rodents, making them very much rodents! However, there has been some discussion regarding the fact that in the family rodentia, there are three suborders ( Sciuromorpha, Myomorpha, and Hystricomorpha ) and scientists are debating whether caviidae falls under one of these categories or should be a suborder of its own. Found this from a quick Google search : Guinea Pig
Looks quite an interesting peace of info but not an official scientific article or report I'm afraid.
 
GuineaPiggy101 said:
Yeah, I heard about the debate. I am allergic to all rodents (as a matter of fact, all animals) but when I was tested guinea pig's were on the non allergic response for me. The doctor told my parents that it might be because guinea pigs are not "True" rodents. My mother and I tend to believe that they are not rodents.
Just a little question though... If guinea pigs were rodents don't you think they would have rodentia in their name instead of cavia porcellus?
Click to expand...

Cavia porcellus is the genus and species of the guinea pig, which is where we get taxonomic names. But there are actually eight levels of classification, starting really broad (i.e. Plant kingdom and animal kingdom) and then getting more specific. So technically, guinea pigs are in the class of mammals, the order Rodentia, the family Caviidae, and then their taxonomic name made up of genus and species names is Cavia porcellus.
 
The3LittlePigs said:
Guinea pigs are classed under the family caviidae, which is a sub family of rodentia composed of South American rodents, making them very much rodents! However, there has been some discussion regarding the fact that in the family rodentia, there are three suborders ( Sciuromorpha, Myomorpha, and Hystricomorpha ) and scientists are debating whether caviidae falls under one of these categories or should be a suborder of its own. Found this from a quick Google search : Guinea Pig
Looks quite an interesting peace of info but not an official scientific article or report I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
I always wonder if the fact that they have precocious young and most rodents don't matters at all. However, from reading it seems that science has largely moved past 'what does it look like?' and into genetic analysis in determining where animals fit.
 
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