Wild Wonders is home to one hundred and thirty unique animals all with their own backgrounds. You will soon discover is that no two animals are alike.
We’ve had Chaco, a young viscacha, for about a year now and she’s still not as comfortable around people as we’d like. We go in her enclosure every day to clean and feed her, but she tends to stand still in a corner while we go about our business. Kim, one of our staff members, has been bringing Chaco home for sleepovers every once in a while and the rest of our staff and interns have been making an effort to spend more time feeding her treats and coaxing her out of her comfort zone. She’s pretty shy but she is such a sweet girl!
She really loves being pet!
Just look at that cute little face!
Chaco baby Viscacha
Chaco our Viscacha is such a cute baby. Viscachas are the largest of the Chinchilladae family, giant rodents, from S. America. He will grow up to be about 25lbs! An herbivore, his favorite foods are apple & leafeater biscuits, & fresh grass. Take a tour & visit this unique animal ambassador at our Wild Wonders facility.
My what big teeth you have!
Last night our young Viscacha, Chaco, spent his first night in his outside home. Viscachas are a relative of the Chinchilla and are usually somewhat timid. He has been spending days in his home outside to get more comfortable, and nights inside.
When we tucked him in for the night and gave him dinner he came out of his house to see what we were doing and check out the food.
This morning he had eaten his food and played in the dirt overnight. It was a successful new step!
Our baby Viscacha has been with us for a couple weeks now!
Now that she’s gotten to know us a little better, we are introducing her to her new home. She went to visit her soon to be permanent enclosure and she had fun checking the place out. She’s still very cautious but also curious of her surroundings. The enclosure seems pretty big to her but soon she will be running around and acting as though she’s been here the entire time.
Here’s some cute pictures of her in the enclosure. She is so adorable!
We just got a new baby plains viscacha! She’s 3 months old, and she came from the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland. Viscachas are members of the chinchilla family. She’s already bigger than a chinchilla. Males are larger than females, and can get up to about 2 feet long and 20 pounds! They are from Argentina, Southwestern Paraguay, and Southeastern Bolivia. They are nocturnal, and live in complex underground burrow systems. Their clawed front feet help them dig but they push dirt around with their noses. They live in colonies of up to about 50. Their diet consists of grasses and seeds. Check out our cute little baby.
Our little girl is adjusting well.
Her facial markings or"mustache" is typical of plains viscachas.
We’ll keep you posted on how she’s doing.
-Casai
