Scientific name of guinea pig is Cavia porcellus. According to zoological taxonomy guinea pig belongs to the family of half-hoofed rodents. A beautiful and affectionate animal is called a guinea pig, since the sounds it produces are similar to the grunting of a piglet. In Europe, it was brought from South America.
Despite some similarity in the name, with an ordinary pig the guinea pig has nothing in common, since this animal belongs to the family of rodents. To rodents guinea pig is ranked because of the characteristic bite of incisors. However, many modern zoologists are of the opinion that guinea pigs should be merged into a new, separate subfamily.
The homeland of guinea pigs is Central and South America, and the history of the existence of these animals is 35-40 million years. . Perhaps the animals themselves came to the human dwelling in search of warmth. The Indians of pre-Columbian America at first sacrificed them to the god of the sun, and later bred as small livestock, using the meat of animals for food.
Already at that time the representatives of the family of guinea pigs had a different color. Especially popular were animals with a mottled brown or white color.
However, among the guinea pigs there were completely or partially black animals. Researchers of Indian culture suggest that black animals were destroyed immediately after birth, since in the religion of the ancient Aztecs and the Incas, black color is a sign of evil.
