Capybara

Greetings and Salutations dear friends! This week we enter the world of the world’s largest rodent, the Capybara. This herbivore is a native of South America and is as comfortable in water as it is on land. First, let’s consider its size. A male adult capybara can weigh anywhere from 75 to 150 pounds and stand almost 2 feet tall on all fours. Se we’re dealing with a rodent the size of a large domestic dog.

I mentioned that the capybara is just as comfortable in the water as it is on land, the term we would use to describe this is “semi-aquatic”. With that level of comfort, you will rarely find a capybara far from a water supply. This is helpful because when threatened by a predator, a capybara can submerge itself under water for up to 5 minutes. That’s called aqua-skeedaddling :).

The capybara has webbed feet and likes aquatic plants just as much as it does terrestrial plants. Not surprisingly, this animal likes to mate in water and after a 4 to 5 month gestation period, the female will give birth to 4-5 babies. Here is this week’s video about the capybara of Timbavati Wildlife Park with more fun facts. Enjoy, and we will talk with you next week!