While I was in the shop yesterday Eddie showed me a picture of wild guinea pigs in Newstead Abbey country park. They seem to have moved on, or become a succulent part of the food chai,n as he hasn’t seen them since.
I pasted the link but it added the picture – not sure how that happens. Clicking the photo seems to link back to the site, but I’m a bit suspiciousvof all this modern technology.
If you search for Wild Guinea Pigs of Newstead Abbey you will find his site, with many insect photos.
He’s wasted taking picures of coins for ebay.
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Love the color pattern. Cute but agree, they don’t belong there
Yes, it’s just as well that they seem to have disappeared.
Reading higgledypiggledymom’s comment reminded me of a friend of my parents who came from Sierra Leone. He visited one day and shocked us children by asking if we were fattening our guinea pigs up for the pot. Most definitely not! They were eaten eventually, not by us but by a couple of foxes.
He probably retold the tale a lot of times, tapping his head and chuckling at the mad English people who fed guinea pigs for no reason.
Haha! Yes, he probably did!
🙂
It looks just like my beloved childhood guinea pig, Peter.
I’ve never seen one like that before – it’s a very striking colour.
Youngest used to have a pet one. We’ve heard they are food in some countries…like way in the Pacific/Asia area. Still may be rodents, but always looked kinda cute.
Yes, they are cute, my cousins used to keep them. 🙂
Perhaps they’ve just got better at hiding 🙂
It would be nice to think so. 🙂
I suppose someone just got tired of them and let them go. This, of course, is one way invasive species take hold, but your post indicates that there are no more guinea pigs at the Newstead Abbey.
Yes, I have mixed feelings about them – they are cute but they don’t have a place in our ecosystem.
I love guinea pigs, but agree they don’t belong in the ecosystem here or in England. Hamsters often get let go in the wild, and I read come with a $500 fine in Florida.
I imagine hamsters could become a real pest in a warm place like Florida, with no proper winter to control the population.
Hamsters originated in Syria, and can hibernate. A single hamster can store 60 lbs of grain in its burrow, so I read in my book on hamsters when I was a youngster. The gestation period for a Syrian hamster is only 16 days.
That’s a lot of grain! I suppose they need it with all that breeding. 🙂
An intriguing piece of information!
Luckily Eddie has the patience of a master nature photographer or I’d never have believed him.
I’ve not heard of this.
I hadn’t heard of it either until yesterday. 🙂