Skinny Pig Origin-Hairless Guinea Pig

Origin of Skinny Pigs

Skinny Pigs came from several labs in Canada. Charles River's Lab in
Canada first introduced skinny pigs in 1982. They were a natural spontaneous
mutation that was discovered in a colony of Hartley outbred guinea pigs in
1978. Charles Rivers had acquired them in 1982. They were then released to
guinea pig breeders and etc. Skinnies came out as a natural spontaneous
mutation, and have been crossed to haired guinea pigs to improve the breed.

Charles Rivers Lab(CRL) uses red eyed white(REW) Skinny's. Over time,
cross-breeding with regular haired pigs have resulted in many different
patterns and colors such as, rainbow, broken, TSW, and Himalayan varieties.
They have been outcrossed to hardy haired guinea pigs for many generations
by reputable breeders to bring hardiness to them. They are not a weak sickly
breed as some people are led to believe. Those that have had weak sickly
skinny pigs probably have not acquired a strong healthy line. They may also
have been inbreeding too much and not breeding back to haired/carriers.
There has been many myths about the skinny pigs in the past. They are just as
healthy as regular haired guinea pigs with regular immune systems. They are
bred to improve the quality of this unique breed by many reputable breeders.

Here is some more history of skinny pigs from the labs:
NOMENCLATURE Crl:IAF(HA)-hrBR ORIGIN
Mutation first identified in 1978, among the offspring of three females caged
with one male in a colony of albino Hartley guinea pigs at Montreal's Institut
Armand Frappier (IAF). To CRL in 1982. Caesarean rederived in 1984. This
guinea pig is euthymic and immunocompetent. COAT COLOR Hairless, albino.

Hairless Euthymic Guinea Pigs:

• Now available from Charles River Laboratories.
• Hair bulb, erector pili, and sebaceous glands do exist.
• Produces defective hair shaft.
• Reduced number of shafts.
• Normal functional thymus.

The Hairless (hr) and Rhino (hr) Mutations, Chromosome 14:
Hairless guinea pigs are available in mutations designated hr and Hr.[1] Double
mutants have been created.[74] Although little is available on the histology of
the skin of these animals, they are commonly used to study pigmentation, [74]
wound healing,[78] transdermal absorption, [79,80] and topical drug testing.
[81,82] The hairless micropig skin lacks utricle and deep dermal cyst formation
characteristic of mutations at the mouse hr locus. The hairless micropig has
many characteristics of normal human skin.[73]

References:
Charles River Laboratories
Ron Banks, USAMRIID Seminar Series, 17 February 1989
The Hairless (hr) and Rhino (hr) Mutations, Chromosome 14

Updated 05/08/2005