The Capybara is the largest rodent in the world. It can be more than 4ft long and l.5 feet tall. It has reddish brown fur on top and yellowish brown on the bottom of it's body.

 

This is so because the capybara can swim. The light underbelly helps the animal to blend into the light of the water and the dark to look like bark floating in the water. Because they swim they have webbed feet. It’s eyes, nose and ears are located on top of it’s head. This comes in handy when taking a nice cool swim.

 

Also it’s front legs are longer than its back legs. The front ones have four toes while the back only has three. The female is slightly larger than the male. This does not change the fact that the male is in charge of the group.

 

They like to live in wet areas like beside lakes, mountains, forests streams or marshes. They live mostly in the Amazon Rainforest, Panama, Andes Mountains, Columbia, Uruguay, and Argentina. The reason they can live in an area so long is because of their adaptations. There is normally plenty of vegetation around because of the wet lands. Globally the population of the species is unknown, but regionally in Panama there are seven capybara per square kilometer. Their population could be shrinking. The reason being is that they were once hunted and could still be hunted by over protective farmers.

 

Most of the time you will see a group of 10-100 males and females, plus the little babies. A female will have 2-8 babies at one time. Capybara’s don’t really need to worry about a loss of food because they are basic veggie eaters. They mainly eat short grass and sometimes aquatic vegetation. They are obviously at the bottom of the food chain because they eat vegetation.

 

The capybara is prayed on by, jaguars, anacondas and caiman (reptiles close to alligator and/or crocodiles). Babies may also be eaten by foxes, vultures and feral dogs. The safest way for this rodent to evade being eaten is by jumping into the water and hiding among the reeds and water plants. Plus, they have a very well developed hearing. They will hear the predator coming and jump into the water and find a good hiding spot.

 

Author: Lexi C

Published: 02/2007

 

Bibliography “Capybara”. World Encyclopedia. 1998 ed. “Capybara”. Encyclopedia Americana. 1998 ed. “Welcome To Capybara.Org!”.13 Feb. 2007 http://www.capybara.org/ “Capybara” 13 Feb. 2007 http://www.k12.de.us/warner/capybara.htm

 

Photo Credit: Photographed by Adrian Pingstone in December 2005 and released to the public domain.