Capybara
| Capybara Temporal range: Pleistocene - Recent
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| Genus: | Hydrochoerus |
| Species: | H. hydrochaeris
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| Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris | |
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| Capybara range | |
The capybara (also capibara), Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris ("Water pig") is a semi-aquatic herbivorous animal, the largest of living rodents. It is endemic to most of the tropical and temperate parts of South America east of the Andes, and has been introduced to north-central Florida and possibly other subtropical regions in the United States. It is the only living member of the family Hydrochoeridae.
The animal is also called capivara in Portuguese, and carpincho, chigüiro or chigüire in Spanish. The name originally derives from the Guarani word kapiÿva, meaning roughly "master of the grasses" or, more plausibly, from Tupi kaapĩ ûara ("grass eater"). In English, it is also sometimes called Water Hog (which also the literal translation of its species name).
Description and habits
Full-grown capybaras reach between 105 and 135 cm (40–55 inches) in length, and weigh 35 to 65 kg (75–140 lbs) and except for their large size, are similar to guinea pigs in appearance. Capybaras are excellent swimmers, and have partially webbed feet. Their front legs have four fingers and hind legs have three.
Capybaras spend the majority of their life in water: they mate in the water, use water to hide from and elude predators (chief among them being Anacondas, Jaguars, and Humans), and can stay submerged for several minutes. It is even possible for capybaras to sleep underwater, which they accomplish by leaving their noses exposed to the air.
Although pairs or singles are often seen too, capybaras are largely herd animals. The males of the species have a gland on their noses which exudes a liquid pheromone. In the mating season, they will rub this gland on the surrounding foliage to attract females. They spend most of their time on the banks of rivers, feeding in the mornings and evenings. The diet consists of vegetation such as river plants and bark.
The young ones are noticeably lighter colored than adults.
Economic and ecological aspects
Hunting
In the regions along the Paraná river in Southern Brazil, Bolivia, Northern Argentina, Southeast Colombia, and Uruguay, capybaras are occasionally hunted for food and for their leather. The flesh is described as tasting like pork and has a similar whitish appearance.
Venezuelan farmers who once considered the animal a pest now make a valuable addition to their incomes by selling capybara meat (approximately 400 metric tons annually). The rodents are rounded up in February so that they can be slaughtered and sold just before the onset of Lent, when the meat is in high demand.
The popularity of capybara meat in Venezuela is attributed to a 16th century theological decision by the Roman Catholic Church, wherein, responding to queries by Venezuelan Catholics, the Church declared the capybara meat to be equivalent to fish meat for the purposes of Lent, and thus allowed its consumption during that time [1].[citation needed] The decision may or may not have been taken on the basis of incomplete or inaccurate descriptions of the capybara available to the Church authorities in Rome; however, this decision was never reversed, and to this day the capybara is the only warm-blooded animal with that status. (This story should be treated with caution, however, since similar claims have been circulated concerning other semi-aquatic mammals, such as beavers and muskrats[2].)
Capybaras as pets
Capybaras are often kept for "decorative" purposes in public parks, farms, and tourist resorts which have access to suitable water bodies. The animals are usually allowed to roam freely; they adapt easily to human presence, and allow themselves to be petted and hand-fed.
However, in Southeast Brazil (states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas Gerais) this custom has run into trouble recently, after capybaras were found to be a reservoir for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The disease can be transmitted to humans by the star tick (Amblyomma cajennense), a common parasite of many animals — including capybaras and humans. Responding to pressure from health authorities and public opinion, many public places in those states have eliminated the capybaras they once kept[citation needed].
A pet capybara is featured in Capyboppy, (known as "Wump World" in some publication districts) Bill Peet's illustrated, nonfiction children's book.
In Popular Culture
In the American cartoon show, The Tick, the title character's pet "dog," Speak, is actually a sickly capybara.
The Capybara bears resemblance to the Romanian 'Shobolan', a huge rodent to whom the rural Romanian mythology attributes human-like behavior.
Author and artist, Bill Peet wrote and illustrated Capyboppy, a book about his family's keeping of a pet capybara in the 1960s. He later wrote The Wump World, featuring title creatures which look and behave very much like capybaras.
In the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 'capybara' is one of the words given to the eccentric, cape-wearing speller Leaf Coneybear.
See also
- Neochoerus pinckneyi, an extinct North American capybara
- Nutria
- Patagonian cavy
- Phoberomys pattersoni, an even larger extinct rodent