The impending arrival of yet another World Wildlife Wednesday sent me trawling through my photos to see what other examples of international wildlife I had in my archives, which resulted in a wonderful hour or more of reminiscing about past travel experiences. I love how photos bring back such amazing memories.

But I digress. I first met this furry little creature in November 2011 in Bolivia, on the edge of the highest desert in the world, the Siloli. Looking a bit like a cross between a hare and a squirrel, the Northern Viscacha (Lagidium peruanum) is actually part of the Chinchilla family. It lives in large colonies that are split into family groups, and it eats a wide range of plant matter, settling for almost anything it can find growing in such a harsh, rocky environment. It also eats bread – probably not the best thing to feed a wild animal but that was all the members of my group had to entice the beasties down from their rocky hideaways for some photos.

I next met the Viscacha in May 2012 in Peru, at Macchu Pichu, sleepily lazing away the afternoon in a nice sunny spot amongst the rocks. We were mutually surprised to see each other but, after rapidly firing off a few quick shots, I backed off and the two little Vissies quickly went back to sleep. They were very cute!