Chromosomes from the Viscacha Rat – Photo by Graphodatsky et al. (WIkimedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA Salty Rodent<\/h2>\n
So what else do we know about this small rodent? Well, we know they enjoy living in very dry, sandy or scrubland areas where they can easily dig a nice looking burrow for them and their family. Actually, their burrowing behaviour is quite impressive. The Plains Viscacha Rat is known to create large, complex burrows underground in which they relax in during the hot desert days. Once the sun sets though, these rodents will emerge from their underground dwellings to look for salt-loving plants (since the habitat this rodent lives in is very salty). In order to combat the excess salt, the Plains Viscacha Rat will use tiny hairs on the side of their mouth to scrape off the excess salt. After all, too much salt is not part of a healthy diet, even if you have kidney’s that can tolerate higher sodium levels such as the Plains Viscacha Rat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today we are going to explore the life and times of a little rodent known as the Plains Viscacha Rat. There isn’t a whole lot of information on this cute little mammal so we are going to have to do some of our own research. In order to conduct this study of ours we need to take a trip to an isolated section of central, western Argentina where this rat is trying very hard to make a living. Unfortunately due to their isolated distribution range and increasing human disturbance these little guys are classified as “Vulnerable” with a high risk <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,4024],"tags":[348,3204,4025,3203,309],"yoast_head":"\n
Animal with the Most Chromosomes - Plains Viscacha Rat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Plains Viscacha Rat may have 102 diploid chromosomes - the most in the world - but there is more to them than just that. Find out about their other behaviours at Wild Facts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2012\/wild-fact-260-to-err-is-viscacha-to-forgive-divine-plains-viscacha-rat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Animal with the Most Chromosomes - Plains Viscacha Rat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Plains Viscacha Rat may have 102 diploid chromosomes - the most in the world - but there is more to them than just that. 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<\/a>