<i>Cavia porcellus</i>: An Overview of Its Origin, Traditional Breeding, Selected Types for Meat Production and Biomedical Research
Journal: Veterinary medicine and science
Year: 2025

The domestic guinea pig (Cavia porcellus Linnaeus, 1758) is a part of Hystricomorpha (Caviomorpha) suborder, Rodentia order, Cavia Pallas 1766 genus. It is a rodent mammal originated from the wild ancestor Cavia tschudii, with a cosmopolitan distribution nowadays. Its breeding has some cultural-traditional arguments in its native areas, while in other parts of the world, it is used as a pet, as a source of meat, or in biomedical research. For a long time, it was a great laboratory animal and a m