Chinchilla Rat

The chinchilla family, Chinchillidae, contains three genera of South American rodents. The Chinchilla, Chinchilla langer, resembles a short eared, long tailed rabbit. About 38 cm (15 in) long, with a 15 cm (6 in) tall, it weight up to 1 kg (2.2 lb) and feed on seeds, fruits, and herbs.

The chinchilla is bred in North America and Europe for its highly valuable fur, which can be blue, pearl, or grey, with darker marking and yellow white underparts.

Once plentiful in the Andes at elevations of up to 5,500 m (18,000 ft), it has been hunted nearly to extinction for its fur, for which it is now bred on fur farms. The short tailed chinchilla, C. chinchilla, may already be extinct. The three species of mountain viscacha, genus Lagidum, also of the high Andes, have very large ears and long tails.

These social, rock-dwelling animals are hunted for their long, fine, gray to brown fur and their meat. The plains viscacha, lagostomus maximum, found in Argentina, has a body up to 66 cm (27 in) long and somewhat resembles a marmot, with thick, mottled gray fur. It lives in burrows, the holes of which create hazards for range animals.

Other articles: rat matting, mouse, rat breeding.

Nutria (Rodentia)

The nutria, Myocastor coypus, is an aquatic rodent and the only living species in the family Myocastoridae. It is also frequently classified in the family Capromyde, along with the large, heavy bodied rodents of the West Indies known as hutlas. The Nutria was formely often called a coypu and its fur sold as nutria (the Spanish word for "Otter"), but the latter name has now come into wide usage for both the animal and its fur. Nutrient resembles miniature beavers, but they have a rounded, tapered tail, and weight more than 9 kg (20 lb). Their plush, dark grey fur are marked by reddish brown guard hairs. The hind feet are webbed. Native to central and southern South America, nutrias have introduced into the United States and Europe, where they cause damage to crops and irrigation ditches.

Capybara

The capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, the world's largest rodent, lives in South America and Panama. It is the only species in its genus, which belongs to the family Hydrochoeridae, order Rodentia, but different rat class and rat species. The capybara, also called carpincho and water hog, has a massive body, a large head with a blunt snout, short legs, and a very small tail. It may weigh as mush as 50 kg (110 lb) and have a shoulder height of 50 cm (20 in) and a body length of 130 cm (51 in). Its hair is coarse, reddish brown and armed with strong claws. Capybaras eat only plants. They are fast runners and swim well, even under water.

The docile capybara, which may grow to the size of a sheep, is the largest rodent in the world. So the biggest rat in the world that many describe on the web or blog may not the real rat like this one, because many kind of rodent that resemble with rat but actually just other rodent type.