🐾 Capybara

Capybara

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris
• Family & relatives: The world's largest rodent, in the family Caviidae, closely related to guinea pigs and rock cavies.
• How to spot it: A giant, barrel-shaped rodent with reddish-brown fur, a blunt square head, and slightly webbed feet.

Its body & abilities

• Size: About 1 to 1.3 m long and up to 60 cm tall at the shoulder.
• Weight: Typically 35 to 66 kg (77 to 146 lb).
• Body & adaptations: Its eyes, ears, and nostrils sit high on the head so it can stay almost fully submerged while watching for danger.
• Top speed: Can run as fast as about 35 km/h (22 mph) on land.
• Strength: An excellent swimmer and diver, able to stay underwater for up to five minutes to escape predators.
• Senses: Good hearing and smell, with vision positioned for watching over water.
• Growing up: Precocial pups are born furred with open eyes, can eat grass within a week, and mature at about 18 months.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Wetlands, riverbanks, marshes, and flooded grasslands, always near water.
• Where in the world: Across much of South America east of the Andes, from Colombia to northern Argentina.
• Territory: A group defends a home range of about 10 to 200 hectares around a water source.

What it eats

• Diet: Herbivore that grazes on grasses and aquatic plants and drinks directly from its wetland.
• Favorite foods: Grasses, aquatic plants, fruit, and tree bark, plus its own droppings to aid digestion.
• How it hunts: It grazes along shorelines, feeding at dawn and dusk and retreating to water when threatened.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Walks and gallops on land and swims powerfully with its slightly webbed feet.
• When it is active: Mostly active around dawn and dusk, resting or wallowing during midday heat.
• Family life: Very social, living in groups of about 10 to 20 (sometimes up to 100 in dry season) led by a dominant male.
• How it talks: Communicates with barks, whistles, purrs, and clicks, plus scent from special glands.
• Babies: After about a 150-day gestation the female bears around four pups, which the whole group helps to watch.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: A key prey animal and grazer; jaguars, pumas, caimans, and anacondas all hunt it.
• Conservation: Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, with a widespread and stable population.
• Dangers: Dies mainly from predation, hunting for meat and hide, and drought.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: About 8 to 10 years in the wild and up to around 12 years in captivity.
• In our culture: An internet-famous symbol of calm, often shown relaxing with other animals sitting on its back.
• Where to see it: Brazil's Pantanal, the Venezuelan and Colombian Llanos, and reputable zoos worldwide.
• Fun fact: Capybaras are so easygoing that birds, monkeys, and other animals often perch on them like a living bench.