| Plains Viscacha | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Chinchillidae |
| Genus: | Lagostomus |
| Species: | L. maximus |
| Binomial name | |
| Lagostomus maximus (Desmarest, 1817) |
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The Plains Viscacha or plains vizcacha (Lagostomus maximus) is a species of rodent in the Chinchillidae family. It is the only living species within the genus Lagostomus. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The plains viscacha is the largest species of the family Chinchillidae. They construct elaborate burrows that house successive colonies for decades.
Plains viscacha is a large rodent, weighing up to 9 kg. It has an average head and body length over 500 mm, with tail usually a little less than 200 mm long. The dorsal pelage ranges from gray to brown, depending upon soil color, and the belly is whitish. Its head is bulky, face is black and white, males have a distinctive black mustache and stiff whiskers. Forefeet are with four toes, hindfeet with three toes.[2][3]
They live in communal burrow systems in groups containing one or more males, several females and immatures. Viscachas forage in groups at night and aggregate underground during the day. All members of a group use burrows throughout the communal burrow system and participate in digging at the burrows. Alarm calls are given primarily by adult males. The long-term social unit of the plains viscacha is the female group. Resident males disappear each year and new males join groups of females. Dominance is absent among females.[4] Members of a social group share a common foraging area around the communal burrow system, and feed on a variety of grasses and forbs, occasionally browsing on low shrubs.[5]
Plains viscacha ovulate over 200 eggs per cycle (in comparison, humans usually only ovulate one egg per cycle).
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