Skip to main content

Capybara

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris
Meet the world's largest rodent: the Capybara! These huge members of the Cavy family can grow to weigh over 150lbs! Like all Cavys, Cabybaras hail from South America where they live a semi-aquatic lifestyle.

Capybaras are very social creatures, and live in small groups that typically number up to 20 individuals. Each group is led by a dominant male, and contains several females, offspring, and subordinate males. Only the dominant male is allowed to mate with the females, though their status is sometimes challenged by the other males, which results in a charging and rearing scuffle.

The Capybara is an herbivore, and feeds off of grasses and various aquatic plants. They can eat up to 8lbs (3.6kg) of grass every single day!

Capybaras can live up to 10 years in the wild, but they are preyed upon by a whole mess of creatures, including jaguars, snakes, and even people! During Lent, the Catholic Church in Venezuela allows its followers to consume Capybara. One rationale for this is that these semi-aquatic mammals are considered to be honorary fish, which can be consumed during the religious period.
IUCN Status :  Least Concern
Location : South America
Size : Body length 4ft (1.2m), Weight up to 140lbs (63.5kg)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Rodentia
Family: Caviidae -- Genus : Hydrochoerus -- Species: H. hydrochaeris
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Burmese Peacock

Polyplectron bicalcaratum Burmese Peacocks are also referred to as Grey Peacock-Pheasants, which is probably a more apt name, as they are not actually Peacocks... though they do belong to the same family. At any rate, they share some physical resemblances to Peacocks- most notably the eyes on their tail feathers. Burmese Peacocks are the national birds of Myanmar, which was called Burma until 1989, though some still refer to it as such. The birds live in several other Southeast Asian countries as well, and are divided into four subspecies. The species as a whole is listed as being of Least Concern , because they have a large range and population size. It unfortunately appears that they may be declining in number, but it is a slow descent that does not yet meet the vulnerability thresholds. The birds are listed under CITES Appendix II, because they can be kept in captivity and grabbing individuals from the wild could become problematic for the species. IUCN Stat...
3 comments
Read more

Bornean Orangutan

The Bornean Orangutan is one of two extant Orangutan species in the world. It is the third largest primate (after Gorillas) and is the largest primarily tree-dwelling animal in the world. Males are substantially larger than females, and average at around 165lbs. Bornean Orangutans are largely solitary. A handful might live within a small range but they will seldom interact with one another. Males and females only meet up to breed, which happens only once every several years. A young Orangutan will stay with it's mother for about five years, and the females tend to go about eight years between births. That is the longest interim period of any animal! Sadly, the Bornean Orangutans are in a lot of trouble. They need large forests in order to thrive, and deforestation and habitat degradation has left many homeless. They are also hunted for meat and for traditional medicines. Conservation areas are being established to help these guys in the wild, and it is believed that there are a...
59 comments
Read more

Four!

For anyone who was counting, yesterday was our birthday-- four years! Four years filled with animals from A to Z, more than 1,100 of them! I can't thank my readers enough, it's been wonderful! And in celebration of that milestone... I'm taking a break. Hopefully not forever, but for a little bit at least. In the mean time I plan on getting a new layout out, along with some updates to some of the older articles. I'll post updates here and on the Facebook page, I'm also brainstorming some new animal-related projects, so keep an eye out! Thanks again for four awesome years!
18 comments
Read more