Field Note: Guinea Pig in the North York Moors

摘要

On 11 October 2013 a neighbour, Nick Hopwood, called in to show us some photos he'd just taken of a 'mystery' animal his dogs had killed near Baysdale. The location is called Hob Hole (NZ652074). This is a popular place for picnickers, walkers and illegal campers. The animal was in long vegetation beside the stream.To us, the image seemed to show a Guinea Pig Cavia porcellus but, to make sure, the pictures were emailed to Colin Howes. He confirmed the identification and added the following: "Since Guinea Pigs have been popular pets for decades, if they were going to establish lasting feral populations I think we would have come across them by now. However, a 'wild' interaction is reported in the Yorkshire literature. This was of one being caught and made off with from a domestic garden in Cridling Stubbs (SE52) near Pontefract by a Tawny Owl (Johnson, 1990). A few years ago I was amazed to see a number of black Guinea Pigs grazing (free range) in a pasture on the outskirts of Pickering."It may well be that the animal had been abandoned at Hob Hole, possibly with others.