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Name : Plains viscacha ( Lagostomus maximus )
Where it lives : South America , from southern Bolivia and Paraguay to Argentina
The plains viscacha, which is found in South America, has a pointy nose, stiff whiskers and two black stripes on its face.
What it eats : Grasses , shrubs , seed , and even its own BM
Across the vast plain stitch of southern South America , a chubby rodent reigns underground in a vibrant , hierarchal world . The knit viscacha , a stout full cousin of the chinchilla , builds subterranean " city " known as " vizcacheras,“where up to 50 individuals survive together . With tunnels reaching 10 substructure ( 3 m ) deep , these complex web of dark chamber and hidden entrances fascinatedCharles Darwin during his nineteenth - century travel through the region .
These secret engineers are thought to subsist up to eight long time . These animals are organized into complex colony and direct , in part , by thevizcachón — the one-time and most experienced male person — who signals the all - clear each evening . As crepuscule falls , the vizcachón is the first to emerge as a watch . If all is calm , he gives the signal , and the rest of the group follows .
The name " viscacha " is derived fromthe Quechua word " wisk’acha " — a parole that mime the sound the creature makes . It has a broad school principal , magnanimous eye , and pointed ears , as well as long , slopped sensory hair ; short front legs with strong claws for grind , longer hind legs for jump ; and a unretentive , furry tail . Its grayish fur — which is dark on the back , and lighter on the paunch — and the two black stripe running from its snout past its eyes give it a striking look .
But it ’s not just its appearance that ’s famed ; this rodent holds a mammalian disc : The distaff viscacha can release up to 326 eggs in a single generative round , spend a penny it the most prolific ovulator ever tape among mammals , harmonise to a bailiwick published in theJournal of Experimental Zoology – A.
— Dracula parrot : The churl bird whose piercing screams resound through New Guinea forests
— northerly jumbo mouse lemur : The bug - eyed fluff orchis with the biggest testicles of all known primate
— Asian hermit wanderer : The arachnid that catch unassailable after ejecting its own penis
Viscachasreproduce in the fall , when females go into heat and males vie ferociously — sometimes even fight — for a chance to mate . sexual activity takes place inside the burrow , and after a five - month gestation , the female person usually gives birth to two young .
Even more surprising is how the viscacha pluck off this feat : A uncommon dual mechanism combine spontaneous ovulation , which may help eliminate faulty eggs , with induced ovulation , which is activate by hormones or germinal plasma , to secure the fecundation of the highest - timber eggs .
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