Guinea Pig Attractions Around the Word: Berkley 510 Skateboarding Guinea Pig Mural

We've highlighted many guinea pig attractions around the world, but let's not forgot that our own country is also part of the world, and has its' own guinea pig attractions worth highlighting!

At 510 Skateboarding in Berkley, California, there was a controversy over a mural back in 2009. They had a 16 foot tall mural on the side of their business that went against the local signage laws because it included their name. An article in Berkleyside shows this mural of a guinea pig as the mural in question, although we're a little confused since the original article said it was a "rainbow mural" (possibly just meaning the colorful background?) and had the business name's name on the mural, which we didn't see until we saw the little"510" patch on the sleeve. (Is that what all the fuss was about?) Here it is:

Photo from Berkleyside (Source); Photographer: Rannie Turingan.

After seeing how old this story was and all the controversy, we figured that the mural was probably gone. However, thanks to Google Street view, we found out that it is still there:

Still there as of April 2017!

Any humans live in or near Berkeley? Go check it out and get your picture taken in front of this super-cool mural!

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the Word: Perth Royal Show Cavy Racing

It's time for another look at guinea pig attractions around the world! This time, we're taking a look at a guinea pig competition down in Australia.

The Perth Royal Show is "an annual event that is a mix of amusement park rides, markets and agriculture shows." One of the annual attractions at the Show is Cavy Racing, which "has become a tradition at the event and never fails to draw crowds. While it isn’t a race that stops a nation, when the cavies hit the track there will be plenty of excitement and laughs."

Here's a video of one of the races:

Turns out this one wasn't much of a race, but we're guessing some races are more competitive than others!

Long-time readers may recall that this isn't the first guinea pig race we've showcased on our blog; the guinea pig attraction in Colombia was also a race. Colombia's race seemed more like an informal street performance, compared to this giant community event. We should also point out that while these races are cute, there could be some issues with events like this--see our post on guinea pig pageants.

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Inokashira Park Zoo Guinea Pig House Revisited

We don't generally like to repeat ourselves, and we've already done a guinea pig attractions around the world post on the guinea pig house in Inokashira Park Zoo. However, since the humans actually got a chance to see this guinea pig attraction in person, we figured that our loyal readers may appreciate the opportunity to get a closer look at this one.

Notice that the guinea pig house has special hours.

The humans showed up between 11:30 - 13:30 (AKA 1:30 PM), and saw these "Resting" signs.

These plush guinea pigs were nearby, and could be handled at any time, however.

When you visit, it's good to get there early. There's a line to pet the guinea pigs!

Once you get through the line, everyone gets to pick a guinea pig to pet.

You get about 15 minutes of petting time, and then the next group of people in line get their turn.

After petting the guinea pigs, you can always see all the other animals in the zoo. Or, you can get right back in line and wait your turn to pet guinea pigs again!

Have you seen any guinea pig attractions that you think we should feature on the blog? If so, let us know in the comments section.

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Morugumi Cafe and Specialty Shop

As we mentioned in a previous post, we were staying at the veterinarian while the humans were out of town. The humans went on quite an adventure on the other side of the world, and we wanted to let our readers know about one of the guinea pig attractions they found.

Although we've already done two posts on guinea pig attractions in Japan, this will be the first time that our humans are actually bringing back first-hand experience of an attraction. (They also got a chance to visit one of the previously-mentioned attractions for themselves, so we might post on that in the future.)

In Tokyo, Japan, there is a neighborhood called Jiyugaoka where you can find a cafe and specialty store devoted entirely to guinea pigs! The place is called Morugumi, and if you're a human who loves guinea pigs, this is the place for you!

Fun awaits you on the second floor!

It's not a very big place, but their walls are lined with guinea pig merchandise for sale, both functional and ornamental:

Tunnels! Pellets!

Plush guinea pig toys!

Guinea pig books! Ceramic guinea pigs! Cuddle cups!

Ceramic guinea pig cop!

Little plastic guinea pig toys!

Little plastic guinea pig play set!

Guinea pig coasters!

And humans can reward themselves while they're here with some guinea pig themed human treats. (Don't feed these sugary human treats to your guinea pig, of course.)

Soda with guinea pig marshmallow, coffee with guinea pig art and a different guinea pig marshmallow on the side, and fondant guinea pigs. Can you handle this much cuteness?!

Those fondant guinea pigs on the side aren't just sold that way. The cafe will give you fondant to shape and paint with food coloring, allowing you to make your own guinea pig. If I could easily hold a paint brush, I might want to try that out!

By the way, the humans brought back a couple extra items from Morugumi, and we are considering holding another giveaway for our loyal readers. Stay tuned!

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Fortune-Telling Guinea Pig in Bulgaria

It's time for another installment in our guinea pig attractions series! Last year, when we posted about a fortune-telling guinea pig named Ganesh in India, we figured that was a pretty unique attraction. Today, we learned it's not quite as unique as we thought. It turns out that there's another fortune-telling guinea pig in Sofia, Bulgaria:

What does it say? I'm dying to know! (source: The Inconsistent Nomad)

This guinea pig attraction was described by Carla on The Inconsistent Nomad blog. While exploring Sofia, Bulgaria, Carla and her friends came across a man on a street corner with a guinea pig on a newspaper-covered plate:

Andre turned to us to translate.  "He says it's a fortune-telling guinea pig.  We pay him, and the pig tells us our future." Who needs the Nevsky Cathedral when you can get a guinea pig to predict your future?
We paid out the hefty sum of about 25 cents.  The man pulled out a box of of cards wrapped in very thin paper, very similar to that box of cards containing the god-awfully impossible questions in Trivial Pursuit.  He held the box in front of the guinea pig.  The pig leapt onto it and began to rifle through the cards with his front legs.  He suddenly stopped, bit down onto a single card with his teeth, and pulled it out for the man to take.  He unwrapped the divinely inspired/randomly selected card and proudly presented it to us. 

Unfortunately, they'll never know what was in their future, as the card was in Bulgarian. If any of our readers happen to visit Bulgaria, keep an eye out for fortune-telling piggies, and make sure you have a way to actually read the card!

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Inokashira Park Zoo Guinea Pig House

We're both still recovering emotionally from Buffy's unfortunate passing, but are trying our best to keep bringing you the best guinea pig content. We're going to keep this one fun and lighthearted, though.

Today, we're going to take you the other side of the world for another guinea pig attraction! We're going back to Japan to look at the Inokashira Park Zoo.  (Regular readers may recall that we already showcased a zoo in Japan which had a guinea pig bridge. Just to be clear, this isn't the same zoo.) Inokashira Park Zoo is located in western Tokyo. It is not that big of a zoo, but it does have something of interest to Cavy Savvy readers: a Guinea Pig house!

The sign for the Guinea Pig house! (source)

Look at all the guinea pigs! (source)

You can even pick them up and pet them! (source)

So many guinea pigs!

Inokashira Park Zoo is said to be relatively-inexpensive, too: 400 yen (about $3.93 US), for those humans who worry about that money stuff.

Still on the fence about going? Then check out this quirky Japanese video, which Google translates as "Inokashira Park Zoo song of Befriend a Guinea Gig":

10 amazing minutes long!

The humans are already sold on this, and have been talking about planning a trip in the winter. We'll post more if and when they actually go!

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Guinea Pig Statue in Germany

It's time for another installment of our guinea pig attractions around the world series. We've previously taken you to India, the Netherlands, Japan, and Colombia. Now we're going to take you to Germany. Be warned, though--This one is much more somber than the other attractions.

The Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Germany is an animal health research facility on a small island. They mainly study livestock health. Outside of the institute, you will find this statue of three guinea pigs:

Three little pigs. (image source)

So why is there a statue like this out front? As one article explains: "These three guinea pigs were set here as a reminder to all that pass through the facility, to respect and remember the animals that donate their lives to research...  Today the statue pays tribute to the animals that have, and continue to donate their lives to save both humans and animals across the globe." As we warned you, this is pretty somber stuff. I think I may have actually lost my appetite from thinking about this.

Okay, it's back. I've decided to replace these gloomy thoughts with thoughts of carrots. Human, go to the kitchen and make it happen!

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Fortune-Telling Guinea Pig in India

It's time for another installment in our guinea pig attractions around the world series! We previously told you about the Cavy Village in the Netherlands, the Guinea Pig Bridge in Japan, and the Guinea Pig Races in Colombia. Today, we're going to showcase a fortune-telling guinea pig in India:

We love chewing on paper, too! That human better grab that card quickly if he wants to keep it. (image source: Open Magazine)

The story here is that this man, S Govindaraj, is a street fortune teller in Bangalore, India. He used parrots in the past to pick his cards, but then parrots became a protected species, so he switched to a guinea pig named Ganesh (pictured above). He charges 20 rupees for read your fortune (that's about $0.30 for you humans who care about that money stuff), and will do birthdays and other functions.

The article about Ganesh was written in 2013, and said that Ganesh had been with his human for five years. Given that guinea pigs live about 5-7 years, it seems likely that Ganesh may no longer be with us. However, the article also mentions that Ganesh had a guinea pig apprentice who was only a few months old named Murugan. Murugan may be in charge of reading fortunes now.

If anyone has seen an update to this story, or has actually been to Bangalore and experienced guinea pig fortune-telling, please let us know in the comments section!

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Cavy Village in the Netherlands

We recently mentioned some guinea pig-related attractions for your humans when they decide to go on vacation. Here's another guinea pig attraction we wanted to bring to your attention: the Cavy Village in Bakkeveen, The Netherlands. The Cavy Village provides a shelter for guinea pigs whose owners can't care for them anymore. In addition, according to their website, "the village has an entertaining and educative function. Thanks to the presence of the many guinea pigs, the chicken and the geese, the cavy-village is well worth a visit."

Watch this video about the village from Vice (make sure you turn on closed-captions if you don't speak Dutch):



Good job, Netherlands! We think every country should have a Cavy Village.

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Nagasaki Bridge and Bogota Races

Many humans like to travel the world on vacations. It's just something they do, and no amount of wheeking can stop them. It's generally best to just let them go do their travel since there are lots of issues with flying if you're a guinea pig. (Just make sure they make proper arrangements for your care while they're out of town!)

If your human has decided they need a vacation but don't know where to go, here are a couple guinea pig themed attractions you can suggest to them to make sure they're thinking of you while they're gone:

Nagasaki Bio Park

If your humans decide to visit Japan, you have to tell them about this place at Nagasaki's Zoo and Botanical Garden. As described by their website, "You can see the adorable going home rush of guinea pigs on the bridge." This attraction is so cool that Parry Gripp made a song about it:

Bogota Guinea Pig Races

As described in the book Forty Five Ways to Feel Alive: "A super cute form of gambling has hit the streets of Colombia, it is called Guinea Pig racing. A number of small colored plastic huts are lined up at one end of the street and spectators place bets on which ones the guinea pigs will run into."

Here's a video of one of these races:

While this is cute, we'd like to know more about how the guinea pigs are treated before fully recommending this one. (If anyone has more information on these races, please let us know in the comments section.)