Guinea Pigs Or Cavy

The guinea pig is sometimes called "Cavy", after its Latin name, Cavia porcellus. "Porcellus" means "little pig" in Latin, whereas "cavia" comes from New Latin, and is derived from "cabiai", which stands for the name of the animal in the Galibi language of French Guiana tribes. And cabiai could be nothing but an adaptation from "cavia", the Portuguese word, which is also derived from a word in Tupi, saujá, which means "rat". The paradoxical element is that the word "cavy" is generally used by guinea pig owners or breeders, whereas scientists use the colloquial guinea pig word.

Guinea pig is a rodent species from the Caviidae family and the Cavy genus. In spite of this Latin name, they are not pigs at all. Neither do they come from Guinea. In fact, they come from the Andes and according to the studies made in this respect, they are not to be found under this form in the wild, they were domesticated. In South America, the guinea pig plays an important role in the mythology of those peoples and also as a source of food. They were also used for medical purposes and religious rituals. Ever since the ‘60s, plenty of efforts have been made to spread its consumption worldwide, not only in South America.

The traders in Europe brought this animal in the 16th century, it became a very popular pet in Europe too. They are very obedient and docile, easy to handle and to look after, and they are quite responsive if treated properly. There are also some organizations that have competitive aims for guinea pig breeding all over the world.
In the English language, but also in other languages, like Romanian, for instance, guinea pigs are metaphors for experimentation subjects. Since the 17th century many experiments were made on these lovely rodents. They were in fact used as models of organisms in the following 19th and 20th centuries. Nevertheless, they are now more and more replaced by rats and mice.

Apparently, the guinea pig was domesticated about 7000 years ago by Andean tribes in South America (Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador). It was worshipped by the Moche people in ancient Peru. So their art is full of this symbolic animal. Guinea pigs are still a source of food in that particular region of the world, and most people there raise such animals, feeding them with their own grown vegetables. There are plenty of traditions involving guinea pigs, they are also considered to make excellent gifts, they are employed in certain religious rituals and ceremonies, and there are many metaphors referring to guinea pigs. They are thought to have healing effects and used in some customary medicinal rituals, for diseases like typhus, rheumatism, jaundice and arthritis. According to the commonly spread superstition, guinea pigs are to be rubbed against the sick person’s body, and this is believed to have an amazing healing power over that person. Another traditional use for guinea pigs involves diagnosing illnesses. In this respect, black guinea pigs are thought to be the most effective. These ancient practices are spread and accepted in most parts of the Andes, and amazingly enough, they are even preferred to Western, current-day medicine. People tend to trust these strange methods more than modern medicine.

How did these popular creatures get to our old continent? It seems that they were brought to Europe by traders from Spain, Denmark and England. They soon became very popular, exotic pets among the high society and among royalty. Even Queen Elizabeth I liked these cute animals. In 1547, the very first written account of this unseen animal was made, from Santo Domingo. Of course, the animal was introduced to that part of the world by Spanish traders and travelers. It is Konrad Gesner, a Swiss naturalist, who first described the guinea pig in the Western world.

At any rate, as pets, guinea pigs surely have some advantages. One thing is they do not have to be taken out for a walk, like dogs. They are not like mice, so they don’t sleep all day and play all night. They even "communicate" with their owners, by some sort of a whistling sound. They live about 4-7 years, and need to be kept in clean conditions, to avoid the bad smell.