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Guinea pigs: description of breeds and keeping in captivity

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Guinea pigs: description of breeds and keeping in captivity
Guinea pigs: description of breeds and keeping in captivity

Video: How To Breed Guinea Pigs 2024, June

Video: How To Breed Guinea Pigs 2024, June
Anonim

Hearing the phrase "porpoises", many are domestic furry rodents like hamsters. But, it turns out, this is the name for the representatives of the order of cetaceans, outwardly resembling dolphins and living mainly in the salty waters of most seas and oceans. Some of them are even eaten by humans. Since guinea pigs of most species are endangered animals, their capture has been prohibited in recent years. Due to the striking resemblance to dolphins, these families are often confused not only by ordinary people, but also by experts on the fauna.

Like other aquatic mammals, porpoises are viviparous. Females feed their young with milk for a rather long time. Their diet consists mainly of fish, but sometimes includes squid, shellfish and crustaceans.

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Species of porpoises

Globally they are divided into three groups: featherless, white-winged and ordinary. Representatives of the latter of the genera include four species. That is, there are six in all. They are very different from each other, both externally and habitat. Some of the species prefer to stay in packs, while others live alone. Among them are also very common marine animals, and those on the verge of extinction. However, genetically, they all belong to the same family.

Bezpera pig

It was named due to the lack of a dorsal fin. It is considered the smallest dolphin on earth (the rest of the family has it). Its dimensions do not exceed 1.2 meters. A small head without a beak with a round forehead is a distinctive feature of this species. The body is smooth, dark gray (sometimes almost black) in color, sometimes with a slight blue tint. Such porpoises live mainly in the Indian and Pacific oceans from Cape Good Hope to the shores of Japan. Animals can stay both singly and in small groups.

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Pig (sea) common

It is divided into three subspecies that live almost everywhere, starting from the north of the Atlantic Ocean and ending with the Pacific off the coast of the Far East. The common guinea pig is a typical representative of the fauna of the Black and Azov Seas. Males of these animals are smaller than females; their sizes do not exceed one and a half meters in length. They usually hold in groups, feed on fish. Their main feature is that when breathing, they do not jump out of the water. Coloring, as a rule, black or dark gray, lower body lighter than upper.

The Black Sea porpoise, or Azovka, named because of its habitat, is genetically different from the Baltic and Pacific subspecies. However, outwardly they are very similar. Ordinary pigs are the most studied by humans, because more often than others they are kept in captivity in dolphinariums, aquariums and research centers.

Despite the large number of individuals, the industrial catch of these animals is prohibited in most countries (with the exception of Japan, where they are still eaten today).

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California porpoises

The number of these mammals is catastrophically small. According to scientists, in the wild there are no more than 300 individuals left. For this reason, the capture of animals is strictly prohibited, but this situation does not save, because their number is affected by poor ecology and the presence of a large population of sharks in the habitat. They live exclusively in the Gulf of California, where they periodically suffer from fishing nets.

These porpoises are not very large - up to 150 cm in length and 50 kg in weight. They have a gray body with large black "glasses" around the eyes. The lower part, like most members of the family, is lighter than the upper. The herd animal is rather slow, avoids noise, people and everything connected with them.

Argentinean variety

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It is named so due to its habitat. Lives mainly in the waters of the Pacific Ocean near South America, sometimes found in the Atlantic. It differs from its relatives in its ability to live in a freshwater environment for quite some time. Argentine porpoises often swim in estuaries in search of prey. They can stay there for weeks, moving upstream to 50 km.

Unlike their relatives, these whales love loneliness. They have rather large powerful bodies (up to 180 cm in length). The body color is dark gray with barely noticeable enlightenment to the bottom. The main food of the animal is fish and squid.

Spectacled pig

She is Atlantic, she got her first name thanks to the dark circles around her eyes that resemble glasses. The second is due to the habitat. This large animal (up to 2.2 meters in length) lives in small groups off the coast. It lives mainly in the cool waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but is found both in the Indian (near the Kerguelen archipelago) and in the Pacific (off the coast of Tasmania and South Australia).

It differs from its brethren by a sharp transition of the black color of the back to the white belly. It looks like a young killer whale, but not so aggressive in behavior. The eyes located on the black head are surrounded by white “glasses”. It feeds on fish, crustaceans, and mollusks.

White-winged porpoise

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This largest representative of the family grows up to 2 meters in length, and in weight gaining up to 220 kg. It lives in the Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese seas. Animals are kept in groups of up to 20 individuals, feed on fish and shellfish. They are mostly nocturnal. Often make up a company of killer whales during the hunt. When diving, they can reach half a kilometer deep, but when rising to the surface, they do not jump out of the water completely.

White spots on the sides of the black body - the main "special sign", thanks to which this porpoise got its name. Dolphin can be covered with other, not so large light marks on the body. Sometimes there are completely black individuals.