Truffles leaps into record books
Matt Meade • Published 16 Mar 2012 08:50
0 Comments
Share this
click to enlarge
He flies through the air with the greatest of ease ... Truffles in action.
Picture: Jim Payne
RECORD-BREAKING Rosyth rodent Truffles has the longest jump of any guinea pig on earth.
His 30-centimetre leap broke the previous record by more than nine cms!
Now the bounding boar is set to become an international star, appearing as part of the publicity for the 2013 launch of the Guinness Book of Records in September after the jump was officially verified.
The stunning attempt was made at the James Spence Hall, home of the 41st Fife Scouts, in Woodside Avenue on 24th February.
Proud owner and keen Scout Chloe Macari (13) set up the event after putting the four-year-old pet through its paces with a special training routine.
The second-year Inverkeithing High School pupil first noticed a record existed for the 'longest jump by a guinea pig' while reading the Guinness Book of Records in the school library in December.
That night she set up shoeboxes in the family living room to see if Truffles and his best pal, Nibbles, owned by sister Nicole (14), could jump between them, using a piece of cucumber as bait.
While Nibbles refused to bite, Truffles took to it like a pig in mud.
Mum Angela said, "He jumped no problem at all.
"So she kept moving the shoeboxes and got him to jump further and further each time until he reached 26 centimetres. The previous record was 20.5 centimetres.
"Eventually, she got him up to 30 centimetres and that's when she emailed the Guinness Book of Records.
"Now she's absolutely delighted!"
Scouts and parents piled into the hall to witness guinea history, which was filmed to prove the record had been broken.
Chloe said, "I couldn't believe it when he broke the world record, Nicole and I are so proud of him.
"He is an amazing guinea pig and we have had a fantastic time."
While not known for their athletic prowess, happy guinea pigs are known to jump straight up and down, a habit called 'popcorning'.
A statement from The Guinness Book of Records read, "The longest jump by a guinea pig was achieved by Truffles, who cleared a gap of 30 centimetres (12ins) in Rosyth, Fife, on 24th February 2012.
"Truffles is owned by 13-year-old Chloe Macari and her family, who noticed the previous record holder in the 2011 book and knew Truffles could easily beat the distance achieved."
Who knows? Guinea pigs might fly!
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.
