Rock cavy The rock cavies belong to the subfamily Caviinae along with the guinea pig, desert cavy, and cuis. Rock cavies are found in dry, rocky areas with low, scrubby vegetation, and they like to reside close to stony mountains and hills. In appearance and habits they closely resemble the unrelated rock hyrax of Africa (an example of convergent evolution). They usually shelter in crevices. They are reportedly seen at day and night, but are most active at dawn or dusk. Animals most active at this time are known as crepuscular. Studies show that there is a direct link between the retina
Rock cavy and the mediodorsal nucleus, a large nucleus in the thalamus, which may provide the rock cavy with strong emotional learning, visual recognition, and object-reward association memory. This may explain why the animals are found to live in large groups. They can sometimes display homosexual behavior, with males courting males. Some paedophilical behavior has also been displayed, with adult males courting juvenile males. Each group has an alpha or dominant male and several females. The males are territorial, defending rock pile shelters against other adult males. These rock piles are built to impress the females. Once a females chooses a rock