Chacoan mara the capybara, and guinea pigs. Chacoan maras are closely related to the other member of the genus "Dolichotis", the Patagonian mara. Maras are the fourth largest rodent in the world after the capybaras, beavers and porcupines . Though the mara may look like a rabbit, the rabbit is not actually a rodent and therefore not as closely related to the mara as one might expect. Chacoan mara The Chacoan mara, Dolichotis salinicola, is a relatively large South American rodent of the cavy family. They are a close relative of the better known Patagonian mara. The Chacoan mara lives in the
Guinea pig called "Spaanse rat"); and in Portuguese, the guinea pig is variously referred to as "cobaia", from the Tupi word via its Latinization, or as "porquinho da Índia" (little Indian pig). This is not universal; for example, the common word in Spanish is "conejillo de Indias" (little rabbit of the Indies). The Chinese refer to them as 豚鼠 ("túnshǔ", 'pig mouse'), and sometimes as Netherlands pig (荷蘭豬, "hélánzhū") or Indian mouse (天竺鼠, "tiānzhúshǔ"). The Japanese word for guinea pig is "モルモット" ("morumotto"), which derives from the name of another mountain-dwelling rodent, the marmot; this is what guinea pigs were called by