[Gpdd] BEHAVIOR: My Guinea Pigs when the light goes out

[Jason Turning]

Hello all,

Follow-up observation: I've only had my little guys for about five
weeks, and the smaller, younger one always runs away when I put my hand
in the cage area until she figures out she's not going to get picked up.
So when the lights went out I wanted to check if they could actually
see, or operated with memory of the environment along with their long
whiskers as feelers. So I put my hand into the cage area and touched
them. They couldn't see my hand and didn't react until touched, so
initially it would seem they were working off environment memory as well
as using their whiskers. Their eyes would adjust along with mine
eventually, but they definitely enjoy the first moments of darkness.
Amazing that they can run around, popcorning, without any sight. I guess
the next step would be to place obstacles in normally vacant areas of
the cage floor to see what happens. Just kidding, :).

Anyone aware of any research on Cavies in the wild, available on the
web?

-- 
Jason Turning
E-mail: jturning at att.net
-----
Homepage: http://home.att.net/~jturning
  

>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Jason Turning [mailto:jturning at worldnet.att.net] 
> Sent:	Tuesday, January 06, 2004 11:22 PM
> To:	GPDD (Gpdd at gpdd.org)
> Subject:	BEHAVIOR: My Guinea Pigs when the light goes out
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I setup a light over the cube cage for the Cavies that's on a timer.
> Well I happened to be in the living room when the light went out and
> the room became dark. My two little girls came out of their little
> shelter and started running around, popcorning as well as grabbing a
> snack when they would settle down. It took me a minute for my eyes to
> adjust, but they seemed perfectly fine with the darkness right away. I
> was just in there for the second time when the light went out, and the
> very same behavior showed itself again. Of course, I wonder if all the
> running around is simply play, or if they just keep scaring each other
> in the dark, :).
> 
> -- 
> Jason Turning
> E-mail: jturning at att.net
> -----
> Homepage: http://home.att.net/~jturning
>   
>