Guinea Pigs

Throughout the pandemic, it has been common to hear certain anti-vaxxers proclaim their refusal to be used as experimental “guinea pigs” by malevolent scientists. Given how belligerent the most extreme of these folks generally are, it is unlikely that anyone would ­mistake them for the placid, affectionate, and highly social animals that go by that name. A misnomer, really, since the small furry creatures don’t come from the country of Guinea nor are they pigs. They are members of a different mammalian family altogether: the Caviidae. This very ancient branch of rodents has only nineteen members, including the long-legged Patagonian mara and the dog-sized capybara — a pair of which escaped from Toronto’s High Park Zoo in May 2016 and enthralled the city for weeks before being recaptured. Their adventures earned them the monikers Bonnie and Clyde.

Like their capybara cousins, domestic...