Dear Armando: What in the world are viscachas? Are they squirrels?
Rabbits? - Eric
Dear Eric: Two words—Killer Bunnies. Okay, not actually. Viscacha, or
vizcacha, are rodents from the chinchilla family. The name comes from the
Quechua word ―wicacha.
Viscacha weigh less than four pounds and are about sixteen inches long with a twelve-inch tail. The viscacha coat is dense, soft, and woolly. The ears are large and the whiskers are quite long. The feet have four toes and the legs are somewhat frail. The soles of the feet are hairless. There are several species of viscacha, all living in the Andes.
The Plains Viscacha can be found in the Pampas of Argentina, easily differentiated from other viscacha by black and gray mustache-like facial markings. This species lives colonially in warrens of ten to over one hundred. It is very vocal and emits alarm calls. The plains viscacha can strip grassland used to graze livestock causing ranchers to consider the rodent a pest species. The Northern Viscacha are native to the Peruvian Andes and live between the tree line and the snow line. It is gray or brown in color with a bushy tail and long, furry ears. This species lives in large colonies separated into individual family units, like an apartment complex. It eats a wide range of plant matter, settling for almost anything it can find growing in the A viscacha at Machu Picchu surveys his harsh, rocky environment.
A third type of viscacha, called Mountain Viscacha or Southern Viscacha, is similar to the Northern Viscacha, but its fur is more red in color. It lives in similar habitat in the Andes. It is the largest species of viscacha and is extensively hunted for its fur, even though it is not as highly prized as that of other chinchillas. But back to the killer bunny comment. Viscacha are wild animals.
They may look adorable and cuddly, and I am sure they would be willing to eat a few crackers or chips out of the palm of your hand. The danger is that they might take one of your fingers with them, or worse. By the way, the Medical Unit offers rabies vaccines.
Note: The information from this article was taken from Wikipedia and americazoo.com.
