Guinea Pig Lifespan In The Wild

According to the guinness book of world records the oldest guinea pig of all time lived to be 14 years and 10 5 months old before it passed away in the february of 1979.

Guinea pig lifespan in the wild. The average guinea pig life span is around 4 6 years although some can live as long as 8 years. Guinea pigs also known as cavies can live from one to four years. Most guinea pigs have fur but one laboratory breed adopted by some pet owners the skinny pig is a mostly furless breed. They come in a variety of colors weighing in at one to four pounds and being around eight inches long.

This is the approximate value in terms to learn how long do guinea pigs live in the wild. Some breeds are longfur breeds such as the peruvian the silkie and the texel. In the wild guinea pigs have an average lifespan of between one and four years. This is much longer than most other small pets including other rodents such as mice 1 3 years gerbils 2 4 years and hamsters 2 3 years.

On the other hand guinea pig life span as a pet may be a completely different story. With the merino guinea pig being the breed with the shortest lifespan of averagely 4 years. However guinea pig life span in the wild is typically much shorter than those in captivity ranging from one to four years. Guinea pigs were apparently domesticated more than 3 000 years ago in peru coinciding with humans transition from a nomadic to an agricultural lifestyle.

Though they have far more freedom than guinea pigs who are kept as pets most will become the victim of natural predators or even be hunted as food by humans. Wild guinea pigs enjoy freedom to roam and run in their mountainous or grassy homelands but must look out for a variety of predators. No natural population of this species exists in the wild. Females mature in two months males in three and captive guinea pigs live up to eight years although three to five is typical.

On the recent report investigation typical guinea pigs can survive for a maximum of 6 8 years. Most guinea pigs have a life expectancy of averagely 8 years however the peruvian guinea pig and silkie guinea pig have the longest lifespan that ranges from 12 14 years. The actual precise number of the guinea pig lifespan is not known because the pet owner has their own assumption numbers. Female guinea pigs called sows that have given birth to one or more litters tend to live for only about three and a half years on the average.