Pedigree and phenotypic measurements for domestic guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) from a four-generation controlled breeding program. Guinea pigs (known as cuy in Andean countries) are an important livestock species in South America, raised for meat production and increasingly studied for quantitative genetic analyses of growth and reproductive traits.
guinea_pigsA data frame with columns:
Character. Unique individual identifier.
Character. Sire (father) identifier. NA for
founders with no recorded father.
Character. Dam (mother) identifier. NA for
founders with no recorded mother.
Integer. Generation number within the breeding program (1–4).
Integer. Parity number: the birth order of this litter for the dam.
Integer. Litter size at weaning (tamaño de camada al destete): number of offspring that survived to weaning.
Integer. Litter size at birth (tamaño de camada al nacimiento): total number of offspring born in the litter.
Numeric. Dam body weight at parturition (grams).
Character. Coat color, standardized to lowercase:
"blanco" (white), "alazan" (chestnut/reddish),
"bayo" (cream/buff).
Integer. Number of toes.
Character. Sex of the offspring: "H"
(hembra, female) or "M" (macho, male).
Character. Season of birth: "invierno" (winter)
or "verano" (summer).
Integer. Housing unit (pen) identifier.
Numeric. Body weight at day 0 (birth weight, grams).
NA for abortions.
Numeric. Body weight at day 15 (grams).
Numeric. Body weight at day 30 (grams).
Numeric. Body weight at day 45 (grams).
Numeric. Body weight at day 60 (grams).
Numeric. Body weight at day 90 (grams).
Numeric. Growth rate index derived from the weight measurements.
Figshare. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.31513204.v2
The dataset combines the pedigree structure with repeated body weight measurements at six time points across the first 90 days of life (days 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 90), along with birth characteristics, litter information, coat color, season of birth, and housing unit. Guinea pigs are polytocous (litters of 1–5 offspring) and precocial (newborns are fully furred and mobile), making them well-suited for studying early-life growth trajectories, maternal effects, and litter-size effects within a quantitative genetics framework.
Birth weight (p0) is NA for abortions (originally recorded as
"ABORTO" in the source data). Column names are translated and
standardized from the original Spanish-language source.
head(guinea_pigs)
#> ID famID dadID momID gener n_parto tc_destete tc_nac peso_al_parto color
#> 1 001.1 NA M002 1 1 1 5 6 1760 alazan
#> 2 001.2 NA M002 1 1 1 5 6 1760 alazan
#> 3 001.21 NA M002 1 1 2 2 5 1640 bayo
#> 4 001.22 NA M002 1 1 2 2 5 1640 blanco
#> 5 001.31 NA M002 1 1 3 2 3 1574 alazan
#> 6 001.33 NA M002 1 1 3 2 3 1574 alazan
#> dedos sex clima poza p0 p15 p30 p45 p60 p90 tasa_cp
#> 1 14 M invierno 29 130 198 334 504 696 1086 10.90
#> 2 14 M invierno 29 142 226 492 662 892 1118 11.58
#> 3 14 H invierno 29 156 210 294 368 496 824 7.34
#> 4 14 M invierno 29 142 232 402 540 684 926 8.99
#> 5 14 H invierno 29 114 242 486 548 688 950 9.24
#> 6 14 M invierno 29 94 126 230 310 434 NA 5.76
# Count founders (individuals with no recorded parents)
sum(is.na(guinea_pigs$dadID) & is.na(guinea_pigs$momID))
#> [1] 276
# Birth weight by sex
tapply(guinea_pigs$p0, guinea_pigs$sexo, mean, na.rm = TRUE)
#> Error in tapply(guinea_pigs$p0, guinea_pigs$sexo, mean, na.rm = TRUE): arguments must have same length