Talk:Common degu

	Mammals portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mammals, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of mammal-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MammalsWikipedia:WikiProject MammalsTemplate:WikiProject Mammalsmammal articles
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Pocket pets work group.

Degu Reclassification

The Degu may need to be reclassified. According to the sites listed below, the Degu is actually a lagomorph (ie rabbit, pika) and not a rodent. - M.Neko

http://www.expage.com/degudugout

http://www.napak.com/the_contreversial_degu.html

This issue is mentioned on the page about the family to which the degu belongs, Octodontidae (since it is the whole family, or at least a large chunk of it, that would have to be reclassified, not just the common degu) - though it probably needs mentioning on this page too since Octodon degu is much the best known member of the family. We could do with a reference to the molecular systematics work that underlies this suggestion - the web sites listed above don't give the authority, and I have been able to run it to earth, though a number of recent scientific papers refer to the degu as now being thought of as a lagomorph. Does anyone know where the evidence is to be found? seglea 23:21, 23 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think the statement belongs in either article. I have a hard time accepting pet fancy websites with bad MIDI and poor spelling as legitimate alternatives to numerous primary morphological, molecular, and paleontological sources that not only support their inclusion in Rodentia, but also well nested in the order in Hystricomorpha, Hystricognathi, Caviomorpha, and Octodontoidea. Huchon and Catzflis, 2002; Opazo, 2005; and something involving Rowe and Honeycutt are all molecular studies that support the octodontids positioned as I've just mentioned. --Aranae 01:34, 24 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree that the websites listed above are not evidence at all, except that the suggestion is out there. I think the Rowe/Honeycutt paper you're referring to is probably Honeycutt et al (2003). However that does not do much with the location of Octodontoidea - it is more concerned with its internal relationships. Opazo (2005) and Huchon et al (2002) (is this the one you refer to?) are much better evidence. My problem is with papers such as Poeggel et al (2003), from perfectly respectable sources, which refer without comment to, "...the precocious lagomorph Octodon degus". Where are they getting this from? I can't get at the full text of that or other articles that say the same at the moment to see if they source it. However, looking at them more carefully, I see that (a) they all involve the same group (K. Braun seems to be the consistent figure); also (b) they are by neuroscientists not specialist taxonomists, so they may just have picked the idea up from somewhere non-authoritative. It would be good to track the idea down to its root, though. Meanwhile I will amend the pages to be sceptical, if you haven't already done so. seglea 18:31, 24 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Many of the references you're discussing, along with a brief summary of each, can be found on Degutopia's website (http://www.degutopia.co.uk 'Degu?-Controversy' menu), FYI. Degutopia (talk) 14:47, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

References

Dupouy, V., Puget, A., Eschalier, A., & Zajac, J. M. (1996). Species differences in the localization of neuropeptide FF receptors in rodent and lagomorph brain and spinal cord. Peptides, 17, 399-405.
Honeycutt, R. L., Rowe, D. L., & Gallardo, M. H. (2003). Molecular systematics of the South American caviomorph rodents: relationships among species and genera in the family Octodontidae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 26, 476-489.
Huchon, D., Madsen, O., Sibbald, M. J. J. B., Ament, K., Stanhope, M. J., Catzeflis, F. et al (2002). Molecular Biology and Evolution, 19, 1053-1065.
Opazo, J. C. (2005). A molecular timescale for caviomorph rodents (Mammalia, Hystricognathi). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 37, 932-937.
Poeggel, G., Nowicki, L., & Braun, K. (2003). Early social deprivation alters monoaminergic afferents in the orbital prefrontal cortex of Octodon degus. Neuroscience, 116, 617-620.

Plurals

I belive that the plural of "degu" is "degu," not "degus." I changed all refrences of "degus" to "degu" unless it refers to the species name.

If it turns out that I am incorrect, feel free to change them back. Also, if a link stops working, it may need to be changed from "degu" to "degus," depending on which one the other end of the link uses.

It is correct. VanTucky 18:22, 6 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually the plural form of degu appears to be degus

Naisenu (talk) 07:43, 6 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Illegal

I have heard on a discussion board that a woman, living in Pennyslvania, talked to a local pet store owner who said they are not allowed to sell degu anymore. If this is true, which i'm still trying to find more information regarding this, this should be added to the article. Furik 22:21, 31 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How big are they?

Seriously - this info is missing. I came for a quick look to see what a 'degu' is, and although I now know some handy hints on how to keep one, I don't know how big they are. Justinep 23:18, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In terms easily understood, they are about the size of a baseball. They do not get bigger than an adult rat. I am a girl with reletively small hands and I can easily hold two degus in one hand at a time. Hope this helps. Jsouth2 00:27, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Removable Tails

I was surprised that the page did not contain a single warning about degu's tails coming off if grabbed. I made that huge mistake this morning, now my degu will only have half a tail for the rest of it's life.

I guess that's what I get for only using wikipedia to research a pet before I buy one. The makuta 03:32, 14 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

arew part s

It is not generally thought a good idea to grab any animal by the tail, at the very least this will cause an animal discomfort. --Shearluck (talk) 12:50, 2 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

raised for meat?

were these animals ever raised for their meat by Amerind peoples in the same way Guinea Pigs were (and still are)? --86.148.57.131 (talk) 01:08, 8 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Archaeological evidence has been found for humans hunting and eating degus in the recent past (Ebensperger & Wallen, 2002), but not raising them for their meat. This is likely to be because of their small body size and burrowing nature, therefore being harder to contain and of less relative calorific value than the Guinea pig. Degutopia (talk) 14:58, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ebensperger, L.A. and Wallen, P. (2002) 'Grouping increases the ability of the social rodent, Octodon degus, to detect predators when using exposed microhabitats.' OIKOS, 98: 491-497.

Bad diet advice?

in the 'keeping degus' section it advises:

Degus also enjoy tomatoes and cucumber peelings. When feeding produce be sure to thoroughly wash it off; and in addition scrub cucumber skins to remove any wax or other coatings.

However Degus should not be fed foods containing sugars (as is noted in the 'diet' section).--Shearluck (talk) 12:45, 2 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]