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 and into Russian as "морская свинка". This derives from the Middle High German name "merswin". This originally meant "dolphin" and was used because of the animals' grunting sounds (which were thought to be similar). Many other, possibly less scientifically based explanations of the German name exist. For example, sailing ships stopping to reprovision in the New World would pick up stores of guinea pigs, which provided an easily transportable source of fresh meat. The French term is "cochon d'Inde" (Indian pig) or "cobaye"; the Dutch call it "Guinees biggetje" (Guinean piglet) or cavia (while in some Dutch dialects it is