A guinea pig is a special species of rodents which is conventionally used in laboratories to conduct scientific experiments... basically a lab rat. read more
Biological experimentation on guinea pigs has been carried out since the 17th century. The animals were frequently used as a model organism in the 19th and 20th centuries, resulting in the epithet "guinea pig" for a test subject, but have since been largely replaced by other rodents such as mice and rats. read more