Montane guinea pig Montane guinea pig The montane guinea pig, "Cavia tschudii", a type of rodent, is a guinea pig species from the Andes in South America. The montane guinea pig is the likely ancestor of "Cavia porcellus", the cavy or domestic guinea pig. Peruvian wild guinea pigs were first described by E. T. Bennett in 1835, who termed them "Cavia cutleri". Johann Jakob von Tschudi, in an 1845 publication, used the term "Cavia cutleri" to refer to what are now considered two separate entities - the first, Bennett's "Cavia cutleri", which was later (by Oldfield Thomas in 1917) identified as probably a
Rock cavy pile, she indirectly chooses the builder as her mate. Females weigh 700-800 g and give birth to one or two young only, but several litters per year are common. The gestation period averages 75 days. The newborn cavies weigh 90 g. The placenta for a rock cavy is similar to other hystricomorph rodents. They have several lobes that are lined with blood vessels and undergo a counter-current blood flow. There are blood vessels running from the mother along the placenta and then vessels running from the fetus back over the mothers vessels. This allows for a better flow of oxygen