The skinny pig is an almost completely hairless breed of guinea pig. Skinny pigs typically have hair on their muzzles, feet, and legs, but are hairless over the rest of their bodies. Some of them have a thin covering of fuzzy hair on their backs as well. A healthy skinny has skin that is mostly smooth with some wrinkling around the legs and neck; the body is full and the spine and ribs are not showing.
Skinnies come in a variety of colours and patterns, such as Dutch, Tortoiseshell, Himalayan, etc. "Skinny" is the term used for hairless guinea pigs because it describes the visual illusion of their thinner appearance, or colloquially refers to the animal's exposed skin. The modern breed of skinny pigs originated from a cross between haired guinea pigs and a hairless lab strain. The hairless strain that the breed is most likely related to was a spontaneous genetic mutation in 1978 that was first identified at Montreal's Armand Frappier Institute, in a colony of Hartley lab guinea pigs. In 1982, they were sent to Charles River Laboratories in Massachusetts to be bred for laboratory use, and are commonly used in dermatology studies today. They are an outbred strain that has an intact thymus and normal immune system.
Video Skinny pig
Unique traits
Hairless guinea pigs are not significantly physiologically different than standard haired guinea pigs, although they need to eat more to maintain their body heat. The optimal temperature range for a hairless skinny guinea pig is 75 to 79 °F (24 to 26 °C), which is slightly higher than the optimal temperature range (65 to 75 °F (18 to 24 °C)) for the haired guinea pig.
Their sensitive skin looks very much like human skin, but really has the same needs as normal guinea pig skin. Exposed skin is vulnerable to sunburn, injuries and fungal infections unless precautions are taken. Skinny pigs should be housed indoors and they are usually kept with nesting materials, such as a blanket or cloth bag, for heat conservation. The breeding protocol for skinny pigs requires outcrossing to haired carriers at least every other generation. This is an important step in the breeding process, which makes them a poor choice for novice breeders. Skinny pigs are born nearly hairless, and most of them maintain that amount of hair throughout their life.
"Werewolf" is the slang term for skinny pigs with more hair than usual; the hair extends up over the face and onto the neck and shoulders. Extremely hairy "werewolf" skinny pigs will have hair all the way down to their rump. "Werewolf" skinnies typically gain and lose fur based on their hormone levels, especially those related to pregnancy.
Haired guinea pigs that are skinny carriers remain fully haired (looking like a standard guinea pig) their entire life, but carry the hairless gene. Even though the skinny is a relatively new breed among pet owners and cavy fanciers, it is gaining popularity in Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia as well as the United States, where it was introduced into the pet trade in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Maps Skinny pig
See also
- Nude mouse
- Naked mole rat
- List of guinea pig breeds
Notes
References
- http://www.jle.com/en/revues/medecine/ejd/e-docs/00/01/8A/21/article.md
- http://www.criver.com/products-services/basic-research/find-a-model/iaf-hairless-guinea-pig-(1)
- http://netvet.wustl.edu/species/guinea/guinpig.txt
- http://www.hillary.net/school/lab_animal/labanimal.lec.11.03.98
- http://www.guinealynx.info/records/viewtopic.php?t=43
External links
- guinealynx.info
Source of article : Wikipedia
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