# Guinea pigs as guinea pigs. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 13, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293 "2001-10-13T20:40:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ahansen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@ahansen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ahansen)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/1 "2001-10-13T20:40:32Z")
In a sense, Cecil, you answered your own question with the reference to the “Last Supper,” (which brings up some interesting implications in and of itself.) In Victorian times until the mid-nineteenth century, Guinea pigs were indeed used as lab animals for the same reasons rabbits were. They bred quickly, were easily handled, and they tasted delicious roasted, stewed, and fried with root vegetables. Most medical students and lab researchers, were (and are) not amongst the best-paid workers in our society, so access to the animal population of any given experiment was considered a perk of the job…particularly if they had simply been harvested for healthy parts. No sense wasting perfectly good meat, don’t you know. As medical funding and PETA people proliferated, the use of animals that could be recycled became less of a priority, and various rat and mouse strains which could be genetically manipulated for specific testing requirements replaced larger, more edible species. No longer a poor child of scientist parents, I nonetheless have many nauseating memories of dinners made from lab rabbits my father brought home from the Atomic Energy Commission where he worked during medical school. It is my sincere hope, (although my subsequent existance tends to indicate otherwise) that our dinners originated within the “control” group. Hope this bit of information provides a bit of wonderment in you never-ending search for arcana. Thanks for your column. ahansen Caliente, CA ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/2 "2001-10-13T23:43:14Z")
Well, if you ever discover superpowers, you’ll know the truth about those rabbit dinners, won’t you? 🆒 [Are guinea pigs ever used as guinea pigs?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011012.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/3 "2001-10-13T23:48:13Z")
Er…develop, not discover… ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/4 "2001-10-14T07:13:34Z")
When I was little, my father was a machinist. One day someone from a laboratory next door to his workplace came and asked if it would be possible for him to sharpen their syringe needles. He said sure, and they brought over bags of them for him to sharpen. Upon inquiry, the lab worker told him that they were using these needles on rabbits that, in those days, were used somehow for pregnancy tests. My father, being a West Texan, was appalled to find out they simply disposed of the rabbits after they were euthanized. I didn’t find out until a few years ago that I ate rabbit quite a bit as a child. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/5 "2001-10-14T14:12:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JillGat \* > **Upon inquiry, the lab worker told him that they were using these needles on rabbits that, in those days, were used somehow for pregnancy tests.** Cecil tells all in [In old-time pregnancy tests, did the rabbit really die?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a970704.html) ---
**Author:** ![AgiaSophia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19b73/32.png) [@AgiaSophia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AgiaSophia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/6 "2001-10-15T09:14:42Z")
You might be interested to know that laboratory rats and mice have gone the way of the guinea pig and also are not being used for experiments any more. At least one pharmaceutical company which does its own research has decided to use lawyers instead, for three reasons: one, the researchers found the rats and mice cute, and got attached to them; two, rats and mice are scarcer than lawyers; and three, they found that you can’t pay rats and mice to do just _anything_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/7 "2001-10-15T22:10:30Z")
I’ve eaten Guinea pig (locally called _cui_) a couple of times in Cuzco, Peru. They’re quite tasty. The “pig” part of the name is no mystery, as they have a rind of fat beneath the skin much like a real pig. They are usually served whole, complete with head and feet, in a crouched position like a suckling pig. (Of course they are gutted). At one restaurant the cui was served wearing a charming fancy crown made out of celery. I’ve also eaten Paca (_conejo pintado_, a large jungle rodent, a few times in the back country here in Panama. It’s also very porklike and has a layer of fat beneath the skin. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/8 "2001-10-15T22:19:28Z")
I was just sittin here wondering, “When is Colibri going to weigh in and tell us what they taste like?” I also should have figured he ate Paca (capybera?). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/9 "2001-10-15T22:39:09Z")
Glad to be of help, **Jill**. 😃 No, [Pacas](http://www.animalsoftherainforest.com/paca.htm) are a lot smaller than Capybaras. They’re a very popular game species here (and throughout Latin America). From Mexico to Costa Rica they call 'em _tepezcuintle_. I wanted to try Capybara when I stayed at a guest _rancho_ in the Venezuelan _llanos_, where they usually had them on the menu - it’s supposed to taste like beef - but unfortunately they didn’t have it on the days I was there. Guinea pig and Paca are by far the best of all the rodents I’ve tried (squirrel and muskrat in the U.S., and Maori rat in New Zealand). And no, Maori rats don’t taste like chicken. They taste an awful lot like rats, as a matter of fact. ---
**Author:** ![acaines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d78d45/32.png) [@acaines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acaines)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/10 "2001-10-18T05:22:27Z")
I love you writing style Cecil. Let me share one thing I have heard. I can’t remember waht was said about the word Guinea, but I am to understand the pig part comes from the noise they make. I am sure you have heard them yourself. They do squeal like little pigs. Not that I would want to keep an actual pig in the house, (not enough room for two) but if I wanted the squeal, the Guineas would do. I think the neighbors would appreciate that also!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/11 "2001-10-18T15:00:35Z")
I believe their Andean name _cui_ also comes from their squealing call. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/12 "2001-10-18T19:32:12Z")
Eww, you’ve eaten _squirrel_??? That has to be one of the more disgusting things I’ve read on the boards. My mom used to occasionally boil a few for the cats (Grandpap hunted them as vermin), and the smell was enough to drive every living thing out of the house, if not the block. Now, groundhogs are another story. It wasn’t until many years later that my sister and I learned that most of the burgers we had at Gramma’s house weren’t beef. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/13 "2001-10-18T20:36:02Z")
I’ve got news for you, **Chronos** : groundhogs are squirrels. Big fat giant ground squirrels, but squirrels nonetheless. Actually, IMO squirrel stew is a lot better than muskrat _cacciatore_ or fricasseed rat. (And now I’ve been reminded of Frank Zappa’s album _Hot Rats_.) But I probably wouldn’t order any of them if they were available in a restaurant. Guinea pig, however, is one of the most popular items in the fanciest restaurant in Cuzco, and rightly so. [Homer Simpson]Mmmmm . . . rodents![/Homer Simpson] ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/14 "2001-10-18T22:09:54Z")
My Gramma fed us stews made from city pigeons. My legacy from my Grampa is that he taught me to catch them with my bare hands. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/15 "2001-10-19T03:40:28Z")
Another theory about the “Guinea” part of the name is that the locals sold them to hungry sailors for a guinea. As to the rest of this thread…ARRRGH! I have, or have had, or work with, rats, mice, squirrels, possums, prairie dogs, pigeons and, of course, guinea pigs! ---
**Author:** ![OcularGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3e96dc/32.png) [@OcularGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OcularGold)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/16 "2001-10-19T04:08:41Z")
Guinea pigs are still used to develop anti-bodies (for protein assays). rabbits are more common, though. Producing anti-bodies doesn’t always kill the animal, and you can take it home n keep it as a pet afterwards 🙂 (unless you bled it completely). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/17 "2001-10-21T00:12:18Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve got news for you, **Chronos** : groundhogs are squirrels. Big fat giant ground squirrels, but squirrels nonetheless. Taxonomically, perhaps. But they sure taste a lot better than the tree rat variety! ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/18 "2001-10-21T03:48:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > I’ve got news for you, **Chronos** : groundhogs are squirrels. Big fat giant ground squirrels, but squirrels nonetheless. > > Taxonomically, perhaps. But they sure taste a lot better than the tree rat variety! \*\* People. We can get chicken and beef here. Why are we fighting about squirrels and rats? ---
**Author:** ![belain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@belain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belain)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/19 "2001-10-21T18:50:24Z")
In pre-columbia medical tradition, the guinea pig is known as “doctor cui”. I was told by an old man near Huancayo in Peru that when he was little he’d had a terrible toothache. His father had taken him to a tradional doctor who had held a guinea pig against face, later the guinea pig died and his toothache disappeared! They are also believed to take on psychic unhappiness, they soak it up and then they die. Guinea pigs are folk heroes in Peru; they sacrifice their lives to cure your illnesses and unhappiness and you can eat them! I don’t know if they give permission for all this, but I have seen big groups of guinea pigs living in cosy pens and even though they do get eaten, they have a better life than a lonely creature kept as a pet in the west. ---
**Author:** ![AlbinoSquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AlbinoSquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlbinoSquirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guinea-pigs-as-guinea-pigs/87293/20 "2001-10-23T06:45:44Z")
I’m an undergrad doing a thesis project at a Canadian university, and yes, I’ve wound up using guinea pigs. They’re quite popular among scientists doing work with the brain, because their brain develops before birth, like ours - rats develop after birth, so that’s a problem if you’re studying their prenatal development. Personally, I like the guinea pigs because they’re nice ‘n’ big. Specifically, their brains are big for their body size. Believe you me, there is a MAJOR difference between dissecting a guinea pig brain and a rat one. That’s, uh, probably more than anyone wanted to know.