Capybara

Capybara
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Suborder: Hystricomorpha Family: Caviidae Subfamily: Hydrochoerinae Genus: Hydrochoerus Species: H. hydrochaeris
Binomial name
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766)
Capybara range

Capybara is the common name for a large, semi-aquatic rodent, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, of Central America and tropical South America, charaterized by short legs with partially webbed feet, small ears, a blunt nose, and a rudimentary tail. Known as the carpincho in Spanish and capivara in Portuguese, H. hydrochaeris is the largest living rodent (order Rodentia. It belongs to the Caviidae family, which also includes the guinea pig and cavy.

Description

The capybara is the only living species in its genus, Hydrochoerus. Its common name, capybara in English and capivara in Portuguese, derives from Kapiÿva in the Guarani Indian language, meaning "Lord of the grass" (JP 2007), perhaps reflecting the fact that grasses are the favorite food of this rodent (BZ 2007). Its scientific name hydrochaeris, is Latin for "water hog" (CZ 2007), reflecting it semi-aquatic existence and its superficial resemblance to a pig. However, capybaras are rodents (Order Rodentia), classified with rats, mice, and squirrels.

Capybaras have heavy, barrel-shaped bodies, and short heads with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of their body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Capybaras have slightly webbed feet and only a rudimentary tail; their back legs are slightly longer than their front legs and their muzzles are blunt with eyes, nostrils, and ears on the dorsal (top) of their head (BBC 2007). Capybaras have a total of 20 teeth.

Adult capybaras are the largest extant rodents. They may grow more than four feet (130 centimeters) long and 50 centimeters tall (1.6 feet), and commonly weigh more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) (NZP 2007; Magalhaes 1992). Females are slightly heavier than males (CZ 2007).

Though now extinct, there once existed even larger capybaras that were eight times the size of modern capybaras; these rodents would have been larger than a modern day grizzly bear) (BBC 2007).

Development

Capybara reaches sexual maturity within 18 months and breed when conditions are right, which can be once per year (such as in Brazil) or throughout the year (such as in Venezuela and Colombia). The male pursues a female and mounts when the female stops in water. Capybara gestation is 130-150 days and usually produces a litter of four capybara babies, but may produce between two and eight in a single litter. Birth is on land and the female will rejoin the group within a few hours of delivering the newborn capybaras, who will join the group as soon as they are mobile. Within a week the young can eat grass, but will continue to suckle - from any female in the group until weaned at about 16 weeks. Youngsters will form a group within the main group. The rainy season of April and May mark the peak breeding season. Like other rodents, the front teeth of Capybaras grow continually to compensate for the constant wearing-down of eating grasses.

When fully grown, a capybara will have coarse hair that is sparsely spread over their skin, making the capybara prone to sunburn. To prevent this, they may roll in mud to protect their skin from the sun.

Habitat

Capybara are found wild in much of South America (including Panama, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, French Guyana, Uruguay, Peru, and Paraguay) in densely forested areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds and marshes, such as flooded savannah and along rivers in tropical forest. They roam in home ranges of 25-50 acres.

Diet

Capybara is a herbivore (more specifically, a graminivore), grazing mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, as well as fruits and tree bark. An adult capybara will eat six to eight pounds of grasses per day.

Capybara lounging in a shallow pool at the Hattiesburg Zoo in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Behavior

Capybaras are social animals, usually found in groups, between 10 and 30 (though looser groups of up to 100 sometimes can be formed), controlled by a dominant male (who will have a prominent scent gland on his nose used for smearing his scent on the grasses in his territory). They communicate through a combination of scent and sound, being very vocal animals with purrs and alarm barks, whistles and clicks, squeals and grunts.

Capybaras are excellent swimmers and can survive completely underwater for up to five minutes, an ability they will use to evade predators. If necessary, a Capybara can sleep underwater, keeping its nose just at the waterline.

Capybaras eat their own feces in the morning in order to help digest the cellulose in the grass that forms their normal diet. During midday, as temperatures increase, Capybaras wallow in water to keep cool and then graze in late afternoons and early evenings. They sleep little, usually dozing off and on throughout the day and grazing into and through the night.

Conservation

Capybara are not on the IUCN list and thusly not considered a threatened species; their population is stable through most of their South American ranges, though in some areas hunting has reduced their numbers. They have a lifespan of 4-8 years in the wild but average a life less than four years as they are "a favourite food of anacondas, jaguar, puma, ocelot, eagle and caiman."

Capybaras are hunted for their meat and skins in some areas, and otherwise killed by humans who see their grazing as competition for livestock. In some areas they are farmed, which has the effect of insuring that the wetland habitats are protected. Their survival is aided by their ability to breed rapidly.

Captivity

Capybaras can be found in many areas in zoos and parks, sometimes allowed to roam freely and may live for 12 years in captivity.

Where to find

File:Capybara Hattiesburg Zoo (70909b-49) 1280x800.jpg

Capybara exhibit marker at the Hattiesburg Zoo in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Hattiesburg has two Capybara in a fenced Capybara exhibit area.

• Three capybaras live at the Smithsonian Zoological Park's elephant house (as of 09/2006).
• Two capybaras live at the Hattiesburg Zoo in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (as of 09/2007).
• Two capybara live at Hovatter's Zoo in Kingwood, West Virginia (as of 09/2007).
• Two capybaras live at the York's Wild Kingdom in York, Maine (as of 09/2007).
• At least one capybara lives at the Biodome du Montreal (Montreal Biodome), in Montreal, Quebec (as of 09/2007).
• At least one capybara lives at the Prague Zoological Garden (as of 09/2006).
• At least one capybara lives at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin (as of 09/2004).
• At least one capybara lives at the Burgers Zoo in the Netherlands (as of 05/2007).
• At least one capybara lives at the Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico (as of 05/2007).
• At least one capybara lives at the Bristol Zoo in Bristol, England (as of 12/2005).
• At least five capybaras lives at the Zoo Schönbrunn in Vienna (as of 2005).
• At least one capybara lives at the Kolmården Zoo in Sweden (as of 2005).

Human interactions

Capy relaxing in his water pool at the Hattiesburg (Mississippi) Zoo.

Capybaras are gentle animals and will usually allow humans to pet and hand-feed them. Capybara skin is tough, and thus in some areas where capybaras are wild, they are hunted for meat and their skin, which is turned into a high-quality leather, while some ranchers hunt them for fear of the competition for grazing. The meat is said to both look and taste like pork. The Capybara meat is dried and salted, then shredded and seasoned. Considered a delicacy, it is often served with rice and plantains.

During the Catholic celebration of Lent, capybara meat is especially popular as the church classified the animal as a fish in the 16th century (and has never reversed this erroneous classification).

Gallery

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  Capybara at The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. (September 2006)

• 

  Capybara at the Prague Zoological Garden (September 2006)

• Male capybara.jpg

  Capybara at the Prague Zoological Garden (September 2006)

• 

  Capybara near Rurenabaque in Bolivia (August 2003)

• 

  Capybara near Rurenabaque in Bolivia (August 2003)

• 

  Capybara at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin (September 2004)

• 

  Capybara: Frontalansicht eines Wasserschweins (February 2004)

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  Swimming capybara at Iberá Marshes in Corrientes, Argentina (August 2002)

• Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris - Capybara BZ ies.jpg

  Capybara at Burgers Zoo, The Netherlands (May 2007)

• 

  Capybara from the Rio Grande Zoo in AlbuquerqueNew Mexico (May 2007)

• 

  Capybara at the Bristol Zoo in Bristol, England (December 2005)

• Wet-capyvara-in-Brazil.jpg

  Soaking-wet capybara in Brazil (September 2006)

• 

  Capybara at Kolmården Zoo in Sweden (2005)

• 

  Capybara with young at the Zoo Schönbrunn in Vienna (2005)

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  Young Capybaras at the Zoo Schönbrunn in Vienna (2005)

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  Capybara resting (March 2005)

See also

• German Language Wikipedia article on Capybara, mechanically translated into English by Google
• Neochoerus pinckneyi, an extinct relative of Capybara.

External links

• Capybara images at Google Images
• Capybara quiz at ExpertRating

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

. Jungle Photos (JP). 2007.

.

name="Bristol">Bristol Zoo Gardens (UK) Capybara</ref>

• Magalhaes, N. W. de. 1992.

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