If someone tells
you they have degus, and your reaction is either "you have what?" or "have you
seen a doctor about that?", this page should help you. There's one looking at
you now.
For those of you
thinking of degU, you're on the wrong page! For the rest of you, take a look at .
Cute? We think so!!
Briefly: a degu
is (currently) a rodent of order Caviomorpha that lives in Chile in South
America. Highly social herbivorous mammals, they live in groups, nest in burrows
and are diurnal (active during the day). They are about the size of an adult
person's open palm and have brown pelts (fur), pale UV reflective ventral
(belly) fur, light rings of fur around their eyes and orange teeth. They also
have a medium length tail with short, wiry hair becoming longer at the tip.
Degus are sometimes referred to as 'brush tail rats' or 'trumpet tailed rats'52 but are entirely
unrelated to rats. Other names that local people often use to refer to wild
degus include 'chozchoris', 'rata de las cercas', 'raton de tapias', 'bori' and
'Cuming's octodon'52.
The name 'degu' is itself derived from its Latin name, Octodon degus.
'Octodon' translates from Latin as 'eight tooth'
(octo=eight, dens=tooth), while 'degus' is derived from the Latin word 'degusto'
meaning to taste/graze. Octodon degus therefore loosely translates as 'eight
tooth grazer', a name which the naturalist who discovered them clearly obtained
through aspects of their physiology and behaviour.
Want to know
more? Look no further!
Click the links
on the menu to the left to find out more than you ever wanted to know
about these furry friends.