viscacha

[prettygoodword]

Let's take a break from the camelids:


viscacha or vizcacha (vi-SKAH-chuh) - n., any of five species of South American burrowing rodents (genera Lagostomus and Lagidium) with large ears and a bushy tail.



Thanks, Wikimedia!

Closely related to the chinchilla, and like it sometimes raised (or more often hunted) for its fur. Some species are Andean, while others live in the pampas. Looks like a rabbit with a squirrel tail, kinda. Name was adopted around 1600 from Spanish vizcacha, from Quechua wisk’acha.

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

aw, cuuuute. (I knew of the chinchilla but not this.)

[prettygoodword]

Hella cute.