Which do you prefer to refer to your piggies as?

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BonBon2010

BonBon2010

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Rodents or Cavies? I prefer Cavies ;) I don't like to see them as rodents, I think they should be in a catagory all of their own, I mean after all, it's claimed rabbits are not rodents, yet they share the same teeth structures?
 
Cavies! I don't like the word rodent for some reason!

I just call them piggies though :)
 
I call them piggies. I hate the word rodent too. I do not know why but it sounds insulting for some reason.
 
BonBon2010 said:
Rodents or Cavies? I prefer Cavies ;) I don't like to see them as rodents, I think they should be in a catagory all of their own, I mean after all, it's claimed rabbits are not rodents, yet they share the same teeth structures?
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Rabbits are lagomorphs - they have 4 upper incisors (unlike 2 in rodents) and are strictly herbivores (unlike some rodents which are omnivores)
 
I don't know how true it is but I heard that guinea pigs are more closely related (dna wise) to horses then other rodents. I also heard that they may be changing them into a category all their own since they are not really like rodents at all.
 
jm_1234 said:
I don't know how true it is but I heard that guinea pigs are more closely related (dna wise) to horses then other rodents. I also heard that they may be changing them into a category all their own since they are not really like rodents at all.
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Their toes for instance, 4 on the front feet and 3 on the back feet, i'm sure this is not something 'rodents' have? Plus they have no tail as such?
 
Abstract
The guinea-pig (Cavia porcellus), traditionally classified as a New World hystricomorph rodent, often shows anomalous morphological and molecular features in comparison with other eutherian mammals. For example, its insulin differs from that of other mammals in anabolic and growth-promoting activities and in its capability to form hexamers. Indeed, the literature about the molecular evolution of guinea-pigs abounds in references to 'convergent evolution', 'extremely rapid rates of substitution', and 'unique evolutionary mechanisms'. These claims are based on the assumption that the guinea-pig is a rodent. Our phylogenetic analyses of amino-acid sequence data, however, imply that the guinea-pig diverged before the separation of the primates and the artiodactyls from the myomorph rodents (rats and mice). If true, then the myomorphs and the caviomorphs do not constitute a natural clade, and the Caviomorpha (or the Histricomorpha) should be elevated in taxonomical rank and regarded as a separate mammalian order distinct from the Rodentia. If, as suggested by recent data, the myomorphs branched off before the divergence among the carnivores, lagomorphs, artiodactyls and primates, then the new order would represent an early divergence in eutherian radiation.
 
BonBon2010 said:
Ah, but you see, they're not rodents at all :)
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They are of the family rodentia, therefore are rodents.

Not everything fill fit into an exclusive taxonomic group e.g. a platypus is classified as a mammal but lays eggs. It's just a case of they're put into the group that they conform to most.
 
Like previous posters I hate the word "rodent". To me it's the animal equivalent of calling a girl "her" or "she" (a guy at work only refers to his wife as "HER" or "SHE" which I find really disrespectful for some reason. It took me at least a year to find out her real name!)


I usually refer to my guinea pigs as "The Piggies", "My Boys" or "Guinea Babies" :)
If someone asks me what kind of pets I have, I say "Guinea Pigs" as it doesn't involve me having to explain what a Cavy is.
 
I call mine "the pigs" or "the girls".
To me the word "rodent" reminds me of mice and rats
 
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