The mountain viscacha, also called the southern viscacha, looks like a rabbit with a fluffy, long tail. The mountain viscacha is longer than your everyday rabbit growing up to a foot and a half long and weighing almost seven pounds.

The mountain viscacha is covered in brownish fur with a yellow belly to help blend in with the rocks. However, their coloration can vary by season and age. Both males and females have long bushy tails that are curled up when resting and extended to its full length of up to 14 inches when it’s moving.

Mountain viscachas have long, strong back feet and smaller front feet. Their legs and feet are used more for jumping than digging so they form shallow burrows in rock crevices instead of tunnels. The pads of their feet are fleshy and referred to as pallipes, which are useful for navigating quickly over the rocky mountain surface.

Mountain viscachas are mainly found in the mountains and rocky areas of Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. In fact, they can inhabit mountains as high as 16,000 feet above sea level!

Mountain viscachas are diurnal, meaning they’re more active during the day. Part of the day is spent resting, sunbathing, and grooming, while the other part is for eating. They are herbivores and will eat whatever is most abundant near their homes like grasses, moss, or lichens. Since water is scarce in the mountains, the viscacha will get all the moisture it needs from the plants.

Mountain viscachas live in large colonies of 80 or more, where the males mate with multiple females. After the mating season towards the end of the year, female mountain viscachas will carry their young for a little over four months and give birth to one or two babies. The babies are born with their eyes open, covered in fur, and can even start eating solid feed within hours after being born!