Otherwise musk pigs are called bakers.Originally they were referred to the family of pigs. However, the musk pig has little to do with ordinary hogs. Now these guinea pigs are considered to be a family of bakeries - non-ruminant artiodactyl mammals.
Iron with a musk-like secret ison the back of the animals (in the back half). Animals, lifting a stubble over a gland, with force erupt terribly smelling a secret, marking territory of dwelling. Because of this terrible smell, the musk pig got the name.
Bakers have significant distinctive featuressigns that distinguish them from ordinary guinea pigs. According to its characteristics, a musk pig is a non-ruminant ungulate. There are three divisions in her stomach. The front is formed by 2 sausage-shaped blind pouches.
The hind legs are equipped with three fingers, and notfour. The direction of the upper, powerful trihedral, very long (contacting the lower) canines is the same as in the predators - down. The jaw is filled with thirty-eight teeth. Any musk pig is smaller than true hogs. The weight of animals varies from 16 to 30 kg, the maximum height is 57 cm, and the length does not exceed 100 cm.
External appearance of the specimen is reminiscent of ordinary pigs.They have a large wedge-shaped head, a short neck, tiny eyes, slightly rounded ears. Their body is covered with thick stubble. It, lengthened on the neck, back of the neck and back, forms a beautiful mane. The animal has a short tail, hiding in the bristles, stands on thin short legs.
A cautious beast - a musk pig is excellenthears, thanks to what practically does not get in the field of vision of the person. Rather, you can hear the characteristic snapping of teeth and footsteps of surging individuals, rather than themselves.
They feed on mumps with herbaceous plants, fruits,roots and bulbs. They are not very interested in life, although they can easily eat with insects, lizards, small animals and even carrion. In droughty periods, they prefer to eat juicy plants, for example, prickly pear or agave.
The distribution area is captured by the southwest of the USA anddeepens into Central Argentina. To live musky pigs are suitable and dry steppes, and tropical forests. Animals, huddled in the herd, actively feed at night, and in the daytime settle down on the couches.
A natural threat to habitats for bakersrepresent jaguars and cougars. Red lynx and coyotes dare to attack young animals. Mothers, driven by instinct, vigorously protect the cubs. Attacking predators, they inflict bites on them, abstaining, unlike a pig, from punches with fangs. Enraged and frightened animals are characterized by clicking their fangs.
In the place where the litter is left in the herd,formed a lot of mounds of excrement. The males are ready for mating at 8-8.5, and the males at 11-11.5 months. There is no specific period of mating for a baker. However, the young, as a rule, appears in July - August, after the rainy season and the rapid growth of greenery.
Pregnancy period varies in the interval142-149 days. The individual, who felt the approach of childbirth, is removed from the herd in a secluded place. Often childbirth happens in the hole. In the litter, usually 2 pigs, and 3 or 4 pigs - a rare phenomenon. Most of the musk pig brings homosexual piglets (for the birth of heterozygous youngsters account for only 20%).
The very next day the kids with their motherthey join the herd, they are fed with milk in a standing position (a couple more differ from real boars). Milk in females flows only into the two posterior pairs of nipples. Adult fodder piglets begin to feed, surviving up to 6-8 weeks.
Bakeries are represented by two subfamilies and twenty genera. There are four modern species of musk guinea pigs - the white-bearded, the Chuck, the giant and the collar bakers.
