Archive for the 'Rodent' Category
Scientists have found scientific names for no less than seventy kind of chipmunks – kinds which they call species and subspecies. Most of them are so much alike that hardly anybody but a zoologist in a museum would really be interested in the differences between them, and so here is depicted only the eastern chipmunk [...]
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Animals whose teeth are specialized for gnawing are called rodents, and many kinds of them are found all over the world. Rats, mice, porcupines and squirrels are some common and familiar rodents. But the largest of all rodents is the capybara, or carpincho, of eastern south America. It is about 4 feet long and weighs approximately [...]
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One kind of cavy is the familiar little guinea pig. However, the guinea pig is a thoroughly domesticated creature, and has been so for hundreds of years. It has relatives in many parts of South America that have not been domesticated and are still thoroughly wild. The big Patagonian cavy ,also known as the Patagonian mara [...]
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Another common name for the chevrotain, the “mouse deer,” gives one a good idea of the size and appearance of this delicate and dainty little creature. The only misleading thing about the name is that it is neither a mouse nor a deer. Actually it is placed by naturalists and a little group all its [...]
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The Chinchilla is an unfortunate little rodent because it is fur is so silky and soft that for many years it has been hunted for the sake of the pelt, which is used in making expensive fur coats. As a result, the various kinds of chinchillas in Chile, Bolivia and Peru have been almost killed [...]
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Anyone seeing a coypu for the first time might think it was an especially large muskrat. Its body, about 2 feet long, is clothed in dark yellowish brown or reddish brown hair and its tail is long and rat like. Like the muskrat, it is an animal of lakes, streams and swamps – but in [...]
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The beaver played a truly important part in the early settlement of the United States and Canada. At one time it was very plentiful all of North America as far south as the Rio Grande, and it fur was so valuable that it sold by the ounce.
Today the beaver has been killed off in many [...]
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Rodents, or gnawing animals, form the largest order of mammals and they are particularly plentiful in South America. The agouti is one of the best known, for it lives well in captivity and is usually to be seen in collections of Central and South American mammals.
The smooth-coated little animal has olive, golden-brown or reddish hair. [...]
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