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AnAge entry for Cavia porcellus

Classification (HAGRID: 03193)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Rodentia
                Family: Caviidae
                    Genus: Cavia
SpeciesCavia porcellus
Common nameGuinea pig

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity12 years (captivity)
SourceJ. Veronica Kiklevich, pers. comm.
Sample sizelarge
Data qualityhigh
Observations

One virgin animal reportedly lived 12 years in captivity (Kiklevich, J.V., pers. comm.).

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity66 days
Male sexual maturity76 days
Gestation68 days
Weaning18 days
Litter size3.8 (viviparous)
Litters per year
Inter-litter interval96 days
Weight at birth85 g
Weight at weaning228 g
Adult weight728 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0106 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual89 %

Metabolism

Typical body temperature312ºK or 39.0ºC or 102.2ºF
Basal metabolic rate2.1300 W
Body mass639.1 g
Metabolic rate per body mass0.003333 W/g

References
[0776] Seluanov et al. (2007), Telomerase activity coevolves with body mass not lifespan, PubMed
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
[0380] Ingham et al. (1999), Hair cell loss in the aged guinea pig cochlea, PubMed
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0381] Ingham et al. (1998), The auditory brainstem response of aged guinea pigs, PubMed
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0272] Anderson and King (1988), Subclinical lumbar polyradiculopathy in multiple aged mammalian species, PubMed
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 584713
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
Entrez

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Ageing literature

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