Family CAVIIDAE

(CAVIES, CAPYBARAS AND MARAS)

• Mediumto large-sized rodents with compact-to-heavy external morphology; generally short limbs, and large heads; no visible tail; and ever-growing cheekteeth.

• 20-130 cm.

• Neotropical Region.

• Arid and semiarid steppe, dry grasslands, thornscrub, savannas, mesic grasslands, and wetlands.

• 6 genera, 20 species (plus 1 domesticated form), 43 taxa.

• | species Critically Endangered; none Extinct since 1600.