Guinea Pigs - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

**Guinea Pigs.**

Guinea Pigs. Brooke Gortmaker & Cooper Seamer .

Parts of a Guinea Pig – 2. Diet.

3. Made of Cells.

4. Reproduce.

5. Inherit Traits.

6. Grow and Develop.

6. Respond to the Environment.

– 7 Maintain a Stable Environment.

– 7 . 1. Parts of the Guinea Pig .

* environment.
* solid food.
* young guinea pig.
* caviaporcellus pregnant guinea.
* facts html.
* longer periods.

2. Parts of a Guinea Pig – 2Diet – 3 Made of Cells – 4 Reproduce – 5 Inherit Traits – 6 Grow and Develop – 6 Respond to the Environment – 7 Maintain a Stable Environment – 7 1.
3. Parts of the Guinea PigKingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chodata Class: Mammalia Order:

Rodentia Suborder: Histricomrpha Family:

Caviidae Subfamily: Caviinea Genus: Cavia Species:

Caviaporcellus Pregnant Guinea pig 8 hours old 2.

1. Diet Guinea Pigs’ favorite food is grass, although they do also feed on timothy hay and alfalfa.

Like humans, they have to get their vitamin C through food.

So they also need a variety of fruit that has vitamin C.

Food pellets provide a complete diet, but doesn’t have the vitamin C that guinea pigs need, so they also need a multi- vitamin containing vitamin C.

All bulb plants are poisonous to guinea pigs including rhubarb.

g A silver agouti guinea pig eating grass. 3

1. Cells There are around nine species of guinea pigs.

Experiments on guinea pigs have been carried out since the 17th century.

The animals were often used as a model organism in the 19th and 20th centuries; 2.5 million guinea pigs were used annually in the U.S. for research.

As of 2007, they constitute approximately 2% of the current total of test lab animals.

Because of high frequency of use in the lab in the 19th and 20th centuries, the metaphor "*guinea pig*" for a test subject was thought up.

Guinea pigs have since been largely replaced by other rodents such as mice and rats.

Guinea pigs are still used in research, primarily as models for human medical conditions such as juvenile diabetes, tuberculosis, scurvy, and pregnancy complications.

A guinea pig being examined by a scientist for general health and pulmonary condition. 4.

1. Reproduce The guinea pig is able to breed year-round; as many as five litters can be produced per year.

The pregnancy lasts from 59–72 days.

Litters yield 1–6 pups, with an average of three; the largest recorded litter size is 17.

Newborn pups are well-developed with hair, teeth, claws, and partial eyesight; they are immediately mobile, and begin eating solid food immediately, though they continue to drink milk from their mom.

A young guinea pig is able to run when it is only three hours old.

Guinea pig pup at eight hours old. 5.

1. Traits Grow and Develop Guinea pigs are short stocky animals, and they grunt and squeal like a pig.

Guinea pigs are rodents without a tail.

Guinea pigs have a good sense of smell, hearing and sound.

However, their eyesight is a bit weak.

They have teeth which grow throughout their life.

Only the incisors, which are two top and two bottom front teeth grow life long.

These teeth wear off at their tips and develop a *chisel-like* edge that is used for gnawing.

They always need something to chew because their teeth grow life long.

Guinea pigs are large for rodents, weighing between 1.5-2.5pounds, and measuring between 8–10inches in length.

They typically live an average of four to five years, but may live as long as eight years.

Guinea pigs are black, brown, red, white or a combination of colors. 6.

1. Domestic Environment Natural Environment Some species are still commonly found in various regions of South America.
2. Wild cavies are found on grassy plains and occupy an ecological niche similar to that of the cow.
3. They are social, living in the wild in small groups which consist of several females, a male, and the young.
4. They move together in groups eating grass or other vegetation, and do not store food.
5. While they do not burrow or build nests, they frequently seek shelter in the burrows of other animals, as well as in crevices and tunnels .
6. They tend to be most active during dawn and dusk, when it is harder for predators to spot them.
7. Domestic guinea pigs thrive in groups of two or more.
8. Domestic guinea pigs have developed a different biological rhythm from their wild counterparts, and have longer periods of activity followed by short periods of sleep in between.
9. Activity is scattered randomly over the 24 hours of the day; aside from avoidance of intense light. 7.
10. Bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea\_pigs http://www.buzzle.com/articles/guinea-pig-facts.html 8
11. others Different types Cooper’s guinea pigs 9.

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