viscacha

noun

1. Any of the several South American rodents, native to the Andes Mountains, of the genera Lagidium and Lagostomus.

   “From the tenderness of its covering, it is not, though a stronger and larger animal, so able to bear the severity of winter in the Andes as the Chinchilla, though it is not so decidedly an animal of the plains as the viscacha of Paraguay.”

   “The guanaco, the viscacha, and the hare of the Pampas, are found in Patagonia.”

   “A guard viscacha watches for predators. This guard sounds an alarm if it spots danger. Then the quick-moving viscachas scramble into their dens in the rocks or burrow into the ground.”

   “The Andean cat's prey is small mammals such as the mountain viscacha, which look very much like a common North American cottontail rabbit. Mountain viscachas eat coarse spikegrass that is found near small mountain streams.”