New Zealand Peruvian: Heritage Cavy Breed

Essential New Zealand Peruvian Facts

• Personality traits include intelligent, inquisitive and affectionate and are usually easy to tame

• Never use a brush - every hair is precious! Use a comb with widely spaced teeth to groom

• If showing, their hair will need to be wrapped in paper towels daily to keep clean with baths when needed

• Can be in any colour/s and patterns

• There is a satin variety which is extremely rare for this breed.  Satin hair is shiny and fine

• Are only exhibited with Independent Cavy Clubs in New Zealand that continue to recognise and support our kiwi heritage New Zealand Peruvian.

New Zealand Peruvian Genetics

Jen Snell

While the New Zealand Peruvian shares the recessive long-hair gene (lI) with all Peruvians, the NZ variety has specific modified traits:

• The Full Circle: The hair radiates from two central rosettes creating a beautiful full circle, a "curtain" effect without the traditional parting line.  This is the "star trait" of the breed.

• Hair Texture: It typically has thick, luxurious hair compared to the finer, silkier hair of the English variety.
  

The New Zealand Peruvian was created by cross breeding an Aby to an English Peruvian, like the NZ Plume.  Both genetic makeups diverged significantly through selective breeding for hair length and rosette structure.

You must then "lock in" the traits through generations of selective breeding to ensure the two central rosettes are placed correctly with one of them being the dominating rosette.  And their thick long hair all over their body.

Crossbreeding

Every "pure-bred" animal today started as a cross. To create a new breed, breeders select two existing breeds with desirable traits (like the Abyssinian’s rosettes and the Peruvian’s length). This initial cross creates genetic diversity which often makes the offspring hardier than their highly inbred parents - a phenomenon called hybrid vigour.

The transition from a "cross" to a "breed" happens through selective "line breeding."

Breeders take the best offspring from the cross and breed them back to each other or to a parent.

They only keep the babies that consistently show the new "type" (e.g., correctly placed two centre rosettes and long thick hair.) 

Over several generations, the genetics "lock in." Eventually, when you mate two New Zealand Peruvians, you get 100% New Zealand Peruvian.  At this point, it is no longer a cross; it is a true-breeding line.