Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several South American rodents of the genera Lagostomus and Lagidium, having large ears and a bushy tail, some species of which live in elaborate systems of burrows.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A South American rodent mammal, of the family Chinchillidæ and genus Lagostomus, L. trichdactylus, inhabiting the pampas, and playing there the same part in the fauna that is taken in North America by the prairie-dogs and other spermophiles.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A large burrowing South American rodent (
Lagostomus trichodactylus ) allied to the chinchillas, but much larger. Its fur is soft and rather long, mottled gray above, white or yellowish white beneath. There is a white band across the muzzle, and a dark band on each cheek. It inhabits grassy plains, and is noted for its extensive burrows and for heaping up miscellaneous articles at the mouth of its burrows. Called alsobiscacha ,bizcacha ,vischacha ,vishatscha .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
rodent native to theAndes Mountains of South America, in thechinchilla family Chinchillidae.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun gregarious burrowing rodent larger than the chinchillas
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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"Then there is the taruco, a kind of deer, the viscacha, which is a big rat, the otoc, a sort of wild dog, or fox, and the ucumari, a black bear with a white nose.
Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel, or, the Hidden City of the Andes Victor [pseud.] Appleton
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Mountain viscacha Lagidium wolffsohni probably lives in some sectors of the park, but its presence remains to be confirmed.
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Animal and human motifs abound, especially snakes, foxes, felines, eagles and the viscacha a large rodent, cousin to the chinchilla.
Archive 2008-08-01 Unionpearl 2008
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Animal and human motifs abound, especially snakes, foxes, felines, eagles and the viscacha a large rodent, cousin to the chinchilla.
A to Z: P is for Peru Unionpearl 2008
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Several animal species are regarded as being of special value because they are either endemic, nationally threatened or culturally valuable, including Andean condor Vultur gryphus, chestnut canastero Thripophaga steinbachi, sandy gallito Teledroma fuscus, puma Felis concolor, guanaco Lama guanicoe, mara Dolychotus patagonum and viscacha Lagidium viscacia.
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Largest mammalian genome size: 8.40pg, Tympanoctomys barrerae, Red viscacha rat
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Largest mammalian genome size: 8.40pg, Tympanoctomys barrerae, Red viscacha rat
So Much Junk in the Genome... and the Press - The Panda's Thumb 2007
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The red viscacha rat (Tympanoctomys barrerae) and the pichiciego (Chlamyphorus truncatus) are mammals endemic to this biome; they are also listed as vulnerable according to IUCN categories.
Argentine Monte 2007
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Oct. 9th, 2007 at 2:03 PM matt_ruff presents the viscacha, a herbivore in the chinchilla family, indigenous to the Andes.
bodisattva bunny jlundberg 2007
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The viscacha makes his home, like the rabbit, by burrowing in the ground, where he remains during daylight.
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America G. Whitfield Ray
sionnach commented on the word viscacha
A burrowing rodent, Lagostomus maximus, about the size of a groundhog, inhabiting the pampas of Paraguay and Argentina, allied to the chinchilla.
October 20, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word viscacha
"'He has already shown me ... mountain viscachas, fat creatures like rabbits with a squirrel's tail that live among the boulders, piping and whistling cheerfully...'"
--P. O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, 205
March 16, 2008