Montane Guineapigs

Montane Guineapigs. September 8, 2018.

Extremely saddened I missed out on these!! That's what I get for skipping the Domestics section!

@Chlidonias That's what the collection claims they are, supposedly they were imported a few years ago. There is a reason they're not on ztl I think, which @TeaLovingDave can explain more than I.

They also imported Brazilian Guineapigs from Uruguay a year or so before these came in so clearly they're not opposed to spending resources on Cavia species.

~Thylo

Why is this not Cavia magna, the hindfeet look somewhat webbed and in terms of colour it looks exactly like them. C. tschudii is very variable in colour, from reddish brown to gray-blackish, but this isn't exactly gray-blackish.

@lintworm The signage read Montane and the zoo keeps Greater elsewhere on the premises, as shown in @Giant Eland's misidentified photo.

These might not actually be Montane of course, I'm just saying that's what the zoo calls them and TLD confirmed that he'd heard they'd imported some. I wouldn't think these are magna, though, as it'd be bizarre for a zoo that specializes in odd small mammals to display them in two separate areas but label them as different species.

~Thylo

@ThylacineAlive

This does not look like C. magna to me...

@Chlidonias I think it's not on ztl because the admins just don't believe it, though I'm waiting for TLD to explain why (if he knows).

ZTL is a great source but they certainly are odd like that sometimes. I know they refused to believe that the Southern Talapoin at Palmitos Park was there for years and deleted every attempt to add them. Additionally I understand that there are various confiscated primate species at primate rescue centers that aren't listed on ztl simply because they don't believe that they are what they are for one reason or another.

Obviously that doesn't mean they're wrong here, but it wouldn't be the first time.

~Thylo