#Caviomorpha

[eiders]

an agouti (featuring a yellow-billed toucan call)

#being woken up at 5 am by a toucan crying was honestly really funny #animals #agouti #mammalia #rodentia #caviomorpha #alpenposts #videos

[friendly-neighborhood-imbecille]

Pacarana

Dinomys branickii

Family Dinomyidae, pavorder Caviomorpha, suborder Hystricomorpha, order Rodentia

This animal is called the pacarana because it looks a bit like a paca, another South American rodent.

They are the only living member of their taxonomic family. Some other members of this family grew to incredible sizes, like the bison sized Josephoartigasia, which is the largest known rodent. Pacaranas themselves are pretty large, weighing as much as 15 kg, or 33lbs.

Pacaranas are very slow moving and peaceful animals. They eat fruits, leaves, and stems of plants and eat sitting down while holding their food like they have hands. It’s very cute.

The males also stand on their hind legs when approaching females during courtship and there was a viral video of one of these guys standing on their hind legs a while back trying to remove soap from their fur. It has been confirmed by an expert that no, you should not put soap on a pacarana.

They’re mainly nocturnal and terrestrial, but they do a bit of climbing.

These animals are vulnerable to becoming endangered.

@jackalspine @fifiibibii

#jackson’s creadures #creature report #pacarana #rodents #euarchontoglires

[animalids]

Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)

Photo by Sergio Ali

#fave #capybara #hydrochoerus hydrochaeris #hydrochoerus #hydrochoerinae #caviidae #caviomorpha #hystricognathi #hystricognathiformes #hystricomorpha #rodentia #glires #euarchontoglires #boreoeutheria #eutheria #mammalia #tetrapoda #vertebrata #chordata

[thepipsqueakery]

So last night at 1am, Steve decided to jump in and take a bath. Well baths make him hyper and brave, you see. So he decided to try breaking our play space barrier. He succeeded and then got in the guinea pig cage. Once he found out the little cavies would groom him he would do anything to get back in there again. It took me almost two hours to get him put away in his room! Anyway, capybaras are trouble, and I'm very excited that we may be able to break ground on the facility this month if all goes well! #guineapig #capybara #caviomorpha https://www.instagram.com/p/B9hySd5pbIT/?igshid=g06s1cvwx87f

#guineapig #capybara #caviomorpha

[alphynix]

Island Weirdness #51 — Tainotherium valei

Like much of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico originated as part of a Mesozoic volcanic island arc. While in theory this could have resulted in the region retaining some relict populations of weird Cretaceous species, there's a major reason this didn't actually happen: the asteroid impact event 66 million years ago. The proximity to Chicxulub would have been devastating to the proto-Caribbean at the time, with tsunamis as high as 500m (1640') battering the islands and destroying practically everything that lived there at the time.

Afterwards subsidence in the early Cenozoic submerged many of the islands and drowned whatever was left, so it wasn't until later tectonic uplifting that land re-emerged and was able to be recolonized by species via rafting and island hopping (or possibly via a short-lived land bridge).

Caviomorph rodents arrived from South America around the start of the Oligocene, about 33 million years ago, and became very successful due to being some of the only land mammals present on many of the islands. The only modern survivors of this lineage are a handful of hutias, but in the past they were much more diverse — and some of them were giants. 

Tainotherium valei lived in Puerto Rico during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene, and while it wasn't quite the largest of the giant hutias it was still enormous. It's only known from a single partial leg bone, so its full size is difficult to estimate, but it was probably somewhere around 80cm tall at the shoulder (2'7") and weighed about 100kg (220lbs) -- similar in size to a modern black bear.

And that leg bone is especially unusual, showing anatomical adaptions associated with tree-climbing. This is strange for such a huge heavy mammal, but it may have been an ecological equivalent of something like the giant Malagasy lemurs, a slow-moving animal that climbed up trees to feed and regularly traveled over the ground from one feeding site to another.

During the Pleistocene lower sea levels meant most of the Puerto Rican archipelago was part of a much larger landmass that also included most of the nearby Virgin Islands, and the predominate climate at the time was a dry savanna. As sea levels rose at the start of the Holocene the climate shifted wetter and Puerto Rico became densely forested. This would have been advantageous for a tree-climbing animal like Tainotherium, so it was likely still around when the first humans arrived in around 3000-2000 BCE.

Unfortunately these early settlers appear to have burned large amounts of the forests for the first few centuries of their presence, and such widespread habitat destruction would have driven this giant rodent extinct very quickly.

#science illustration #island weirdness 2019 #paleontology #paleoart #palaeoblr #tainotherium #giant hutia #caviomorpha #hystricognath #rodent #mammal #art #island gigantism #puerto rico #caribbean #holocene extinction #island weirdness 2: endemic boogaloo #giant rats of the caribbean #rodents of unusual size

[dendroica]

A young nutria rat at the Mönchbruch nature reserve in Kelsterbach, western Germany

Photograph: Dorothee Barth/DP/AFP/Getty

(via The week in wildlife – in pictures | Environment | The Guardian)

#Nutria #Myocastor coypus #Myocastor #Myocastorini #Echimyinae #Echimyidae #Octodontoidea #Caviomorpha #Hystricognathi #Hystricomorpha #Rodentia #Mammalia #mammal #Germany

[typhlonectes]

When Rodents Rafted Across the Ocean 

The best evidence we have suggests that, while Caviomorpha originated in South America, they came from ancestors in Africa, over 40 million years ago. So how did they get there? 

via: PBS Eons

#rodent #rodentia #rodents #mammal #mammals #animals #nature #south america #evolution #mammal evolution #caviomorpha #video #science #geology #ocean #Earth #fossils

[ainawgsd]

The pacarana (Dinomys branickii) is a rare and slow-moving hystricognath rodent indigenous to South America. Native Tupi people call it the pacarana (false paca) because it is superficially similar to the paca, a different rodent which is not in the same family. It is the world’s third-largest rodent in terms of length. The pacarana has a chunky body and is large for a rodent, weighing up to 33 lbs and measuring up to 31 inches in length, not including the thick, furry tail.

The scientific name of the genus comes from one of the same Greek words as the term “dinosaur”, which means “terrible (or terrifying) lizard”. “Dinomys” literally means “terrible mouse”! Dinomys branickii is the sole survivor of an ancient and once very diverse family of South American rodents, the Dinomyidae, which split off from other rodent families about 17-21 million years ago.

As the Dinomyidae diversified into new ecological niches, they also diversified in body size. The smallest of the fifty known fossil Dinomyidae species, Myoprocta, had a mass of only 1 kg. But most of the diversification wasa towards larger body sizes. Some of these “mice” had body sizes approaching those of hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and buffalo!!! “Terrible mouse” indeed! The largest Dinomyid, Josephoartigasia monesi, weighed about 1000 kg (one ton), the largest rodent that ever lived. Its front incisors were disproportionately huge, and may have been used to dig, or to fight. South America was full of buffalo-sized rats until continental drift linked it to Central America, introducing new forms that could in turn out-compete or eat these giants.

The pacarana is nocturnal and is found only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains. It ranges from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia, including the Yungas. It is common in Cotapata National Park in Bolivia.

The pacarana is the sole extant member of the rodent family Dinomyidae in the infraorder Caviomorpha; the paca that it resembles in appearance is in a different Caviomorph family, the Cuniculidae. Initially, the pacarana was regarded as a member of the superfamily Muroidea, that includes the true mice, but that view was abandoned in the face of evidence that suggests that the pacarana is in the family Dinomyidae together with extinct animals such as Phoberomys pattersoni and Josephoartigasia monesi, prehistoric giant rodents that lived in South America several million years ago.

Pacaranas typically are found in family groups of four or five.

[x] [x]

#pacarana #dinomys branickii #false paca #Branick’s rat #terrible mouse #rous #large rodents #rodents

[official-william-afton]

"Chinchillas are either of two species of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha"

we at least know they're a rodent. also learned that some types of them are rare cause they got hunted down.

Haha rodent.

[lovemychinchilla]

What Is a Chinchilla Rat?

If you've researched chinchillas before, you may have heard of a 'chinchilla rat'. But what is that—a chinchilla crossed with a rat, another species, or another family?

What is a chinchilla rat? Chinchilla rats are nine or ten species of animal grouped in the family Abrocomidae. They are found in and around the Andes Mountains, the tallest mountain range in the Americas and the longest in the world. They have thick fur and long tails, and look like a chinchilla with a rat's longer body shape (although different species have different appearances). They are not kept as pets.

The guide below first looks at what a chinchilla rat is and what one looks like, where they live, and what family they're in. It will explore the most interesting species in more depth before addressing whether you can keep one as a pet (and why/why not).

What Is a Chinchilla Rat?

Chinchilla rats are neither rats nor chinchillas. They are rodents that look a lot like chinchillas, and live in the same place as the chinchillas we know and love; but there are several key differences between these two different families.

These animals live in the Andes Mountains, inhabiting small cracks between rocks or burrows that other animals dug. They are social, too, and live in large groups like chinchillas do. While it's thought that they're herbivorous, this isn't known for sure, as the Andes are remote and these animals are secretive; but they likely eat grasses, plant roots and perhaps the occasional insect.

What Does a Chinchilla Rat Look Like?

Chinchilla rats, as the name suggests, look like a rat crossed with a chinchilla. Rather than relying on a description, take a look at this drawing of one:

  As you can see, chinchilla rats have distinct features. They have large eyes, large rounded ears, and grey or brown fur. But their bodies are longer and more rat shaped than chinchilla shaped. Their faces are slightly more pointed than a regular chinchilla. But the key difference is in the tail, which is long, but not furry like a chinchilla's.

They have reasonably thick fur, albeit not as thick as that of a chinchilla. These animals are sometimes trapped and their fur sold at local markets, although it's reported that it only makes a small profit. This doesn't seem to have severely impacted population numbers, although studies on these animals are scarce.

One adaptation the chinchilla has to its environment is its hairy hind toes. These are used for combing its fur and to assist in digging. They have four front toes and five rear toes. Unlike chinchillas, chinchilla rats can dig their own burrows, although they don't always—instead making use of existing cracks in the rock.

Where Do Chinchilla Rats Live?

Making matters even more confusing, chinchilla rats live in the same place as chinchillas do: the Andes Mountains. These mountains run all the way along the west coast of South America, from Argentina in the south to Colombia in the north. They are very tall, very cold and very dry, hence why many animals that live there have adapted to have thick fur and to conserve water.

The chinchilla is restricted to Chile, although in the past, it was found in other countries too. The chinchilla rat, though, is still found in Chile, Peru, Argentina and more. There are several species across this range, but all the chinchilla rats are grouped in the same family of animals. That's because they're closely related to one another.

Unsurprisingly, the rodents that live here have adapted to the rockiness of the habitat. Chinchilla rats live in burrows, often burrows that have been dug by other animals. These burrows are shared with other members of the same species as chinchilla rats live in groups; they may also share the burrows with other rodents like degus or chinchillas.

A chinchilla rat burrow can be identified because these animals create 'latrines', as can be seen in the image above. To keep the burrow clean, the chinchilla rat will head to the opening of the burrow and go to the toilet there. These latrines can grow to ten feet high, and become as hard as the rock they're fused to. Pet chinchillas display similar behavior by picking a corner of the cage to pee in, then only peeing there.

Is a Chinchilla Rat a Chinchilla or a Rat?

The chinchilla rat, despite its name and appearance, is neither a chinchilla nor a rat. Chinchilla rats are grouped together in their own family, while chinchillas and rats are grouped in their own respective families.

The reason chinchilla rats look like other rodents is that most rodents look alike anyway. And considering that chinchillas and chinchilla rats live in roughly the same habitats, it's little wonder that they developed similar features (like thick fur).

What Family Is The Chinchilla Rat In?

All species of chinchilla rat are in the Abrocomidae family. There are only nine or ten known living species of chinchilla rat, and they are all grouped in this family. They all share characteristics, and scientists consider them to have a recent common ancestor, hence why they're grouped together.

This family is part of the larger grouping Caviomorpha, which is what long and short tailed chinchillas are a part of. But regular chinchillas are part of another family called Chinchillidae, meaning that scientists don't consider chinchillas and chinchilla rats to be too closely related.

There are two genuses in the family Abrocomidae. That's because there are two branches of the family; these branches are like cousins to each other, while the members of each branch are like siblings. There is the Abrocomid genus, which contains most of the species. Then, there is the Cuscomys genus, which contains only two (very rare) species.

The living species of chinchilla rat aren't all entirely alike. Some have fascinating histories.

The Macchu Picchu Arboreal Chinchilla Rat

This animal was first known from skeletal remains found during a scientific expedition. The Peruvian Expedition of 1912 was the third in a series undertaken by scientists from Yale, who travelled to Peru to search for new species; they found that these rodents, a previously unknown species, were buried with Incan people in their tombs. As fascinating a discovery as this was, the bones couldn't be matched with any living species, and they were considered extinct.

But it's years later that the story becomes interesting. In 2009, a park ranger named Roberto Quispe—who works near the location the 1912 expedition found those skulls—found a real, living version. He and his team were smart enough to take photos, and the finding was later confirmed by a team from Mexico, who found their own specimens during field work. While the species is thought to be endangered, that's a definite step up from 'extinct'.

Like other chinchilla rats, this species looks like a chinchilla with a rat-shaped body; but the fur is a darker brown in this species, and it has a distinctive vertical stripe between its eyes. Interestingly enough, other species are still being discovered in the same area, so there may be more chinchilla rats hiding out near Macchu Picchu.

Something else that makes these rodents stand out is that they're arboreal. That means that it can live in trees, unlike the other chinchilla rats in this list. That's probably why some of the first photos of this species show it climbing all over the man that discovered it!

This species is a member of the Cuscomys genus. The only other species in the same genus is the Ashaninka arboreal chinchilla rat. It looks similar, so initially, it was thought that the Macchu Picchu specimen could have been an Ashaninka specimen. But they are morphologically different enough to be considered separate species.

Bennett's Chinchilla Rat

Bennett's chinchilla rat is perhaps the most common of all nine species. It's certainly more common than the Macchu Picchu arboreal chinchilla rat. It's found only in Chile, but it's found there in numbers big enough that mean it's far from endangered. This species is the largest in the family, at eight inches long. That's shorter than your average chinchilla, but big for a rodent. Its tail is almost the same size again, giving it a total length, tail included, of about 15in.

What's interesting about this species is its place in history. The drawing of the chinchilla rat above (in the What Does a Chinchilla Rat Look Like section) was made the first time this family was discovered by scientists. But it wasn't just any scientist that found this species: it was Charles Darwin and his team when they visited the area. It was drawn and published in the 1836 book "The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle". Darwin's most famous observations—relating to the birds and other fauna of the Galapagos Islands—were made nearby, as the Galapagos are off the west coast of South America, not far from Peru (relatively speaking). It was his time here that informed his later book On The Origin of Species.

Bolivian Chinchilla Rat

The Bolivian chinchilla rat isn't the most interesting in its own right. But it does live somewhere fascinating.

The Bolivian chinchilla rat lives somewhere called the 'cloud forest', which is a wonderful kind of habitat found only in select places around the world. Cloud forests are forests typically at the feet of mountains that are permanently or frequently foggy/cloudy. This occurs because mountain ranges physically block clouds from passing over them; the effect is heightened by the forest 'breathing', as trees and vegetation give off moisture during respiration.

Because of the abundance of moisture, these forests are home to all sorts of interesting mosses, plants and trees. Lots of plants means lots of animals, and the chinchilla rat is one of many to call this place home. Unfortunately, cloud forests (and other habitats besides) in this region are being cleared so that cattle can be raised there instead. This may have led to this species becoming extinct; scientists aren't sure as it's such a remote place.

There are other species besides this. Scientists disagree on the exact number of species in the genus. That's because a) entirely species are still being discovered, and b) animals that were previously considered the same species are, perhaps, not. That's why some sources say there are as little as four species while others say nine. Recognized species include:

Abrocoma bennettii - Bennett's chinchilla rat

Abrocoma boliviensis - Bolivian chinchilla rat

Abrocoma budini - Budin's chinchilla rat

Abrocoma cinerea - ashy chinchilla rat

Abrocoma famatina - Famatina chinchilla rat

Abrocoma schistacea - Sierra del Tontal chinchilla rat

Abrocoma uspallata - Uspallata chinchilla rat

Abrocoma vaccarum - Punta de Vacas chinchilla rat or Mendozan chinchilla rat

Cuscomys ashaninka - Asháninka arboreal chinchilla rat

Cuscomys oblativus - Machu Picchu arboreal chinchilla rat

It's possible that there are more species out there, but they haven't yet been found.

The Protabrocoma Genus

Last but not least, we have two species in a third genus: Protabrocoma. These two species are Protabrocoma antigua and Protabrocoma paranensis. Both of these species are only known from fossils and are currently considered extinct. Examples have been found in both Argentina and Bolivia, and are similar enough to chinchilla rat skeletons to be placed in the same family, but different enough to be separate species.

Unfortunately, the chances of these species being 'revived' through finding living specimens is slim. That's because they seem to have gone extinct a long time ago. Known fossils of these species range from 9 million years ago to 3.6 million years ago; after that, they seem to have disappeared from the fossil record.

Can You Keep a Chinchilla Rat As a Pet?

Chinchilla rats aren't kept as pets. There are several reasons why:

Many chinchilla rat species are endangered. There are laws and regulations against trapping/keeping endangered animals.

While their fur is thicker than many other animals, it isn't as thick as that of chinchillas; they therefore aren't farmed for their fur. Chinchillas first became farmed animals before becoming pets, but this hasn't happened with chinchilla rats.

Not all animals take well to being kept in cages. It's possible that chinchilla rats wouldn't thrive if kept in captivity (although this isn't known for sure).

That being said, there is limited evidence that the chinchilla rat may have once been a pet. The bones of the Macchu Picchu arboreal chinchilla rat were buried alongside people, and discounting any potential religious reasons for this practise, they may have been buried alongside their owners. The skull of one entire specimen also had elongated incisors, indicating that it may have been kept as a pet and experienced malocclusion, which is uncommon in the wild. But be that as it may, nobody keeps these animals as pets today.

It's also stated in some reference books that a Bennett's chinchilla rat was once kept as a pet, and it supposedly survived for two years and four months. Unfortunately, little is known about this case. What's clear is that they certainly aren't kept as common pets.

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

#chinchillas #chinchillafaqs

[faunafocus]

Crested Porcupine

#FaunaFocus The crested porcupine is strictly protected under international and domestic legislation in Europe and is found in several protected areas throughout its range. #Porcupine #Porcupines #CrestedPorcupine #CrestedPorcupines

The crested porcupine is strictly protected under international and domestic legislation in Europe and is found in several protected areas throughout its range.

The crested porcupine is strictly protected under international and domestic legislation in Europe. It is protected under Appendix II of the Bern Convention and is listed on Annex IV of the EU Habitats and Species Directive. It has…

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#Crested Porcupine

[friendly-neighborhood-imbecille]

Red-rumped agouti

Dasyprocta leporina

Family Dasyproctidae, infraorder Caviomorpha, order rodentia

Also known as the golden-rumped agouti, orange-rumped agouti and Brazilian agouti.

They live in bonded pairs, or family groups when they have children. They mate for life.

They eat seeds, pulp, leaves, roots and fruits. They also sometimes eat insect larvae when other food is unavailable.

They will eat brazil nuts and will often bury them for later, like squirrels.

They are generally between 3 and 5.9 kg (6.6 to 13 lbs), and grow to between 49 and 64 cm (19 to 25 in) long with tails no longer than 6 cm (2.4 in). Females are usually larger than males.

They communicate with grunts, squeals, screams, and body language.

They are crepuscular, like guinea pigs.

@jackalspine @fifiibibii

#jackson’s creadures #creature report #red-rumped agouti #rodents

[animalids]

North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)

Photo by Gerry

#north american porcupine #porcupine #erethizon dorsatum #erethizon #erethizontinae #erethizontidae #caviomorpha #hystricognathi #hystricognathiformes #hystricomorpha #rodentia #glires #euarchontoglires #boreoeutheria #eutheria #mammalia #tetrapoda #vertebrata #chordata

[steenpaal]

Neoepiblemidae - Wikipedia

The Neoepiblemidae are an extinct family of hystricognath rodents from South America. The genera Dabbenea and Perumys, formerly placed here, are now included in Phoberomys.[1] The delimitation of the present family and the Dinomyidae is in need of review; some genera in the latter (such as Phoberomys and Eusigmomys) are sometimes included here.

Fossils of the family were found in the Colhuehuapian to Huayquerian Pinturas, Sarmiento, Santa Cruz, Cerro Bandera and Ituzaingó Formations and Colhué Huapí Member of Argentina, the Solimões Formation of Brazil, the Pebas Formation of Peru and the Urumaco Formation of Venezuela.[2]

References

Bibliography

Horovitz, Inés, Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra, Thomas Martin and Orangel A. Aguilera (2006): The fossil record of Phoberomys pattersoni Mones 1980 (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Urumaco (Late Miocene, Venezuela), with an analysis of its phylogenetic relationships. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 4 (3): 293–306.

Further reading

Kramarz, A.G. 2001. Revision of the family Cephalomyidae (Rodentia, Caviomorpha) and new cephalomyids from the early Miocene of Patagonia. Palaeovertebrata 30(1-2):51-88.

McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. ISBN 0-231-11013-8

[alphynix]

The biggest known rodent of all time, Josephoartigasia monesi from the Pliocene and early Pleistocene of Uruguay, South America (~4-2 mya). Similar in size to a modern bison, it stood about 1.5m tall at the shoulder (4′11″) and weighed around 900kg (~2000lbs).

Despite looking like an extra-large capybara, it was only distantly related to the modern giant rodents. Its closest living relative is actually the much smaller pacarana.

Its 30cm long (12″) incisors could produce a large amount of bite force, and it may have used them in a similar manner to elephant tusks -- rooting in the ground for food, stripping trees and branches, or defending itself from predators.

#science illustration #paleontology #paleoart #palaeoblr #josephoartigasia #dinomyidae #caviomorpha #hystricognath #rodent #mammal #art #rodents of unusual size

[dendroica]

Porcupine (via USFWS Mountain-Prairie)

A porcupine has approximately 30,000 quills on its body.

Photo Credit: Mike Mauro/USFWS

#North American Porcupine #Porcupine #Erethizon dorsatum #Erethizon #Erethizontinae #Erethizontidae #Erethizontoidea #Caviomorpha #Hystricognathi #Rodentia #Mammalia #cottonwood #Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge #Rocky Flats NWR #Colorado