🐰🐇 Cool rabbit right? Well... Actually Not! 🐇🐰

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Good old nature never seizes to amaze me.

Take for example this cute rabbit:

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Did I say rabbit?

Yeah, no.

This is actually a rodent known as the Viscacha or vizcacha

Viscacha or vizcacha (UK: /vɪˈskætʃə/, US: /vɪˈskɑːtʃə/) are rare rodents of two genera (Lagidium and Lagostomus) in the family Chinchillidae. source

As to why they look like rabbit, it's just one the countless examples of convergent evolution.

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Sidenote, they belong to the family Chinchillidae, which also includes chinchillas.

Today there are five extant species of viscacha, classified into two genera: Lagidium (mountain viscachas) and Lagostomus (plains viscacha):

  • Southern viscacha (Lagidium viscacia
  • Northern viscacha (Lagidium peruanum
  • Wolffsohn's viscacha (Lagidium wolffsohni)
  • And finally we have the newly discovered Lagidium ahuacaense

These four are commonly known as mountain viscachas as they occur high in the Andes Mountains.

And finally we have the plains viscacha (Lagostomus maximus), a resident of the Pampas of Argentina.

Viscachas are herbivores and consume a variety of plants that grow in their habitat like grasses, mosses and lichens.

Fortunately most species seem to be doing relatively fine, population wise and are listed as least concern. Having said that, there is some pressure on the Northern viscacha (Lagidium peruanum) due to local hunting.

This is not the case however with the newly discovered lagidium ahuacaense which has only one known population in Ecuador and faces all kinds of threats thanks to human activity. It's status is not officially assessed but believe it's critically endangered.

Anyways, I think I talked enough for this silly critter. Google is your friend, plenty of good articles out there with lots of info. So, I will leave you with some videos instead :)

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZdaHQW97-G4?si=9et2BdN3Zad69rCO

Ok that was just a small taste, there's lots more videos on YouTube if you want to have a look!

Ok friends, this is it for today. See you soon with more strange animals ^_^

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23 comments
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You received an upvote of 93% from Precious the Silver Mermaid!

Please remember to contribute great content to the #SilverGoldStackers tag to create another Precious Gem.

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Now that sure looks like a rabbit. But it’s a rabbit on crack….🤣

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They look similar, but different to the Rock Hyrax here in South Africa. Cute ones that you have here :)

!BEER

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That's is awesome. I never saw one of those when I lived in South America, it really does look a rabbit doesn't it?
!BBH

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@trumpman! Your Content Is Awesome so I just sent 1 $BBH (Bitcoin Backed Hive) to your account on behalf of @thebighigg. (14/50)

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It's just like natural things that happen are so much more beautiful that way. I myself enjoy playing with things like that.

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I was expecting it to be a rabbit but I wasn't expecting it to be a rodent.

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