Yellow-spotted rock hyrax (Heterohyrax brucei). Photo © Vladislav Jirousek
Rock cavy (Kerodon rupestris). Photo in the Public Domain
The yellow-spotted rock hyrax of Africa is in many ways convergent with the rock cavy of South America, but the two have extremely different teeth.
In rock hyraxes, no tooth continues to grow while cutting food, whereas in the rock cavy virtually all the teeth do so.
This difference is explained by the fact that rock hyraxes, competing with many other herbivores ranging from rock hares and klipspringers to large ungulates, reproduce and grow extremely slowly compared with the rock cavy.
Rock hyraxes consequently have relatively limited appetites and focus rather on self-defence than grinding of food.
Figure 1. Yellow-spotted rock hyrax (Heterohyrax brucei) skull. Photo by John Edward Gray
Figure 2. Rock cavy (Kerodon rupestris) skull. Photo by Pavel Zuber
Figure 3. Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) skull. Photo by Wagner Souza e Silva
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