In common Dutch, the guinea pig is named 'cavia'. Which is also part of the scientific name, Cavia porcellus.
A nowadays old-fashioned Dutch word for cavia is 'Guinees biggetje', which means 'Guinea piglet'. However, the animal is no family of pigs, nor origins from Guinea, but from the Andes mountains.
In English, the term 'guinea pig' is also used as a metaphor for a subject of scientific experiments. In contrary in Dutch, an other animal is the unlucky one in common language, namely the 'proefkonijn' ('experiment rabbit').
A large cousin of the cavia is the capibara, whose name also starts with the letter 'C'. In English it is spelled with a 'y', in Dutch we use an 'i' instead.
I would love to have a capybara stamp in hands, but alas I haven't. Fortunately I found on the internet several nice pictures, among them these two from lands they are living in, these largest rodents in the world:
Curious to know what other stamp lovers have in mind when thinking of the letter 'c'? Check the delightful Sunday stamps site and the links mentioned there!
Last summer we had a pair of capys escape from a local zoo. One of them took weeks to be captured - reading his (fake news!) twitter account and the accounts of what was done to try to find him were were very entertaining! Now there are three babies at the zoo and I finally went to see them this spring. strange looking creatures!
BeantwoordenVerwijderenHow funny the capybara had his own twitter account! And how nice that you have seen a capybara family!
VerwijderenI thought we had capys in our local zoo, but when I went to watch close (and read the zoo info) they turned out to be a mara :-)
We had a pet guinea pig growing up - brings back memories.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe way they place there forefeet on the ground I think so funny/cute!
VerwijderenWhat was your sweetest memory?
One of our two cavias passed away last May, and we noticed the other, Senior, was very lonely (silent, less active). But 12 days ago we welcomed a new cavia from shelter, and Senior apparently os happy and talkative again.
May these animals never go extinct. Great stamps.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThank you, Bob, and I think it a wonderful quote.
Verwijderentwo fantastic creatures today - love the stamps.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThank you, FinnBadger!
VerwijderenFascinating animals I've seen them in wildlife programmes but believe there is still one on the loose here on the River Thames, its been recaptured once being lured by food but escaped again.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThat must be an exciting adventure, both for the animal and the zoo people!
VerwijderenMay these animals never go extinct. Great stamps.
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