70 Fun Facts About Capybara

The capybara is native to every country in South America except which one?

The Andes wall the animal off from the Pacific side of the continent. It ranges from the Caribbean coast down to northern Argentina.

The word 'capybara' comes from which indigenous South American language?

Tupi was spoken along the Atlantic coast of South America and gave Portuguese, and then English, dozens of animal names, including jaguar, piranha and tapir.

Translated literally, the capybara's indigenous name means roughly what?

The name is an agglutination of the words for leaf, slender, eat and an agent suffix, so it describes the animal by its diet.

The genus name Hydrochoerus is built from Greek words meaning what?

The species name hydrochaeris adds a twist, pairing 'water' with a verb meaning to feel happy or enjoy.

Molecular studies show the capybara's closest living relatives are which small South American rodents?

The two lineages diverged in the late Middle Miocene and now share the subfamily Hydrochoerinae within the guinea pig family.

Which feature, unusual among rodents, is found in the hairy parts of a capybara's skin?

The coarse fur has no underhair, and there is no real distinction between guard hair and overhair.

Roughly how long is an adult capybara from nose to rump?

They stand 50 to 62 cm at the shoulder, about the height of a large dog, but with a heavy, barrel-shaped body.

The heaviest wild capybara on record, a female, weighed about how much?

That is about 201 pounds. The heaviest recorded wild male came in at 73.5 kg.

How many toes does a capybara have on each hind foot?

The front feet carry four toes, and all the feet are slightly webbed for swimming.

Compared with adult males, adult female capybaras are typically what?

The typical adult range is 35 to 66 kg, with an average of about 49 kg in the Venezuelan Llanos.

How many chromosomes does a capybara have?

Its karyotype is written 2n = 66, FN = 102, meaning those 66 chromosomes have 102 arms between them.

Capybaras are lowland animals; the highest elevation one has been recorded at is about how high?

The record came from Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, a highland plateau in the cerrado savanna.

Escaped capybaras are sighted fairly often in which US state, though no breeding population is confirmed?

Late Pleistocene capybaras actually lived in the region, so feral animals may be filling an ancient niche. A capybara café in St. Augustine lets visitors scratch their heads.

Capybaras are superb swimmers and can hold their breath underwater for up to how long?

They rest on dry land in the morning, then spend the hot early afternoon in the water to keep cool.

When do capybaras do most of their grazing?

The midday heat is spent cooling off in the water, and grazing then runs on until the sun rises.

How large is the home range of a typical capybara group?

A range needs a permanent body of water, grassland to graze on and a patch of dry land for resting.

What share of wild capybaras were recaptured within 100 m of where they were marked two years earlier?

Eighty percent were within a kilometre. Most capybaras simply do not migrate far.

Because its jaw hinge is not perpendicular, how does a capybara chew its food?

Its front teeth and its cheek teeth both grow continuously to compensate for wear from all that grass.

Capybaras are 'autocoprophagous', which means they regularly do what?

It replenishes gut bacteria that break down cellulose. They also regurgitate food to chew again, much like a cow chewing cud.

Like guinea pigs and humans, capybaras cannot synthesize which nutrient, so zoo diets must supply it?

Captive capybaras that do not get it in their diet have been reported to develop gum disease as a sign of scurvy.

Because of predators, wild capybaras usually live no longer than about how many years?

The maximum lifespan is 8 to 10 years; jaguars, ocelots, cougars, eagles and caimans keep the average far lower.

Which snake is a notable predator of capybaras?

Caimans and eagles also take capybaras, which is why the animals rarely stray far from water and dive at the first sign of danger.

During the dry season, capybara groups gathering around water can swell to as many as how many animals?

A normal group is 10 to 20, usually two to four adult males, four to seven adult females and their young.

The 'morrillo' is a capybara scent gland found where on the body?

Males have much larger morrillos than females and rub them on objects to mark territory. They also mark females themselves.

How does a female capybara let males know she is in estrus?

Her scent also changes subtly, and once pursued, the female holds the advantage and makes the mating choice.

Where do capybaras mate?

If a female does not want a particular male, she simply submerges or leaves the water. Births, though, happen on land.

How long is a capybara's gestation?

Litters range from one to eight pups. The mother rejoins the group within hours of giving birth.

What is the average size of a capybara litter?

The pups form their own sub-group and will suckle from any female in the group, not just their mother.

Newborn capybaras can start eating grass within roughly how long?

They keep suckling from any female in the group until they are weaned at around 16 weeks.

Which dog-like sound do capybaras make when threatened?

Their repertoire also includes chirps, huffs and purrs, used to keep the group in contact.

Capybaras in zoos may live to about what age, more than double their wild lifespan?

They adapt well to urban parks in South America too, and are docile enough to allow hand-feeding.

Petting capybaras is discouraged because their ticks can carry which disease?

Capybaras are also thought to be reservoirs for a South American Lyme-like illness spread by Amblyomma and Rhipicephalus ticks.

Which English zoo was asked to keep the European studbook for captive capybaras?

The small Sussex zoo records every birth, death and transfer of capybaras in European collections for the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.

In Venezuela, capybara meat is traditionally popular during which part of the Christian calendar?

Legend says the Catholic Church once granted a special dispensation classing the semiaquatic animal alongside fish, so it could be eaten when other meat was forbidden.

Besides meat and hide, capybaras are hunted for what product from their thick fatty skin?

In some regions they are farmed, which has the side effect of protecting the wetlands they need.

Izu Shaboten Zoo in Japan is famous for offering its capybaras what?

Video clips of the soaking capybaras have millions of views and helped make the animal a symbol of calm across Japan and China.

In which year did Izu Shaboten Zoo's capybara bath begin?

The keeper had been cleaning the enclosure with hot water. It was the first zoo to do it, and others in Japan have copied it since.

In winter, Izu Shaboten Zoo staff float which citrus fruit in the capybara bath?

It echoes the Japanese custom of a yuzu bath on the winter solstice. The zoo's restaurant even serves a capybara-shaped hamburger.

2020s capybara memes commonly pair the animal with 'After Party', a song by which rapper?

A separate capybara song went viral on TikTok in 2022, cementing the animal's reputation for buddha-like unflappability.

In 2021 capybaras made news for overrunning Nordelta, a gated community outside which city?

The development was built on top of the animals' wetland habitat by the Paraná; as one ecologist put it, Nordelta invaded the capybaras, not the other way round.

By what name are capybaras commonly known in Argentina?

The Nordelta animals bit dogs, destroyed lawns and caused traffic accidents, forcing some residents to fence their gardens.

Social media users jokingly adopted the Nordelta capybaras as a symbol of what?

Critics of the wealthy enclave cheered the animals reclaiming their habitat and cast them as communist revolutionaries.

The lesser capybara lives in Colombia, Venezuela and which Central American country?

It is the northernmost living capybara. It was first noted in Pacific river valleys as a subspecies as early as 1912.

Adult lesser capybaras weigh up to about how much?

They grow to about 90 cm long and have a darker brown coat than their larger cousin.

In which decade was the lesser capybara recognised as its own species, not a subspecies?

Its gestation is only about 108 days, noticeably shorter than the greater capybara's.

How many living species does the capybara genus Hydrochoerus contain?

Three more are known only from fossils, found in Argentina, on a Caribbean island and in the southwestern United States.

Fossils of the extinct capybara Hydrochoerus hesperotiganites come from which US state?

Its fossils come from San Diego County. Feral capybaras in North America today may be filling the niche these Pleistocene animals left empty.

The fossil capybara Hydrochoerus gaylordi was endemic to which Caribbean island?

It dates to the Plio-Pleistocene, showing capybaras once island-hopped well beyond the mainland.

The skull of Josephoartigasia monesi, the largest rodent ever found, was unearthed in which country?

The genus is named after national hero José Artigas. Its skull is 53 cm long, about the size of a beef cow's, with a bite force rivalling a crocodile's.

Kurloff cells, a distinctive cell type shared by capybaras and guinea pigs, are found in what?

Each one carries a characteristic proteoglycan inclusion body. Their exact function is still unknown, though they seem to have an immune role.

Eadweard Muybridge's 1880s motion study 'Capybara Walking' was photographed at which zoo?

It sits alongside 'Ostrich Running' and 'American Bison Cantering' among the 781 plates of his Animal Locomotion series.

Which scavenging bird of prey is known to pick ticks off capybaras and tapirs?

It is less benign than it looks: the same bird will also enlarge open wounds on the animals it cleans.

The ancestors of capybaras most likely reached South America by rafting across the Atlantic from where?

South America was an island continent at the time; the leading hypothesis has a small group of rodents crossing on a raft of mangroves or driftwood.

The mocó, a small rodent and the capybara's nearest relative, is endemic to which country?

It weighs barely a kilogram and lives on rocky hillsides, looking uncannily like the unrelated hyraxes.

Where are a capybara's eyes, ears and nostrils positioned?

The layout lets it stay almost fully submerged while still breathing and watching for predators, like a hippo.

When grass is scarce in the dry season, capybaras switch to grazing mainly on what?

They are picky eaters that will strip the leaves of one plant species and ignore everything around it.

Capybaras have flourished in which type of human-made landscape?

Ranches supply exactly what they need: open grazing, water troughs and reservoirs, and few big predators.

About how many million years ago did the capybara lineage split from its nearest relatives, the genus Kerodon?

The estimate comes from a molecular clock and places the divergence in the late Middle Miocene.

How many toes does a capybara have on each front foot?

The hind feet have three toes, and all are slightly webbed for swimming.

What is the average weight of adult capybaras in the Venezuelan Llanos?

Typical adults weigh 35 to 66 kg and stand 50 to 62 cm at the withers.

How long can a capybara's coarse fur grow?

The coat has no underhair and no real distinction between guard hair and overhair.

In which national park was a capybara recorded at 1,500 m, its highest known elevation?

Capybaras are mostly lowland animals of flooded savannas, wetlands and gallery forests.

In which year was a lone capybara spotted on the Central Coast of California?

Escapees may fill the niche of the extinct Pleistocene capybara Hydrochoerus hesperotiganites that once lived there.

How do capybaras spend the hot early afternoon?

They rest on dry land in the morning and graze from late afternoon through the night.

What is the maximum lifespan of a capybara?

Predation by jaguars, ocelots, caimans and anacondas keeps most wild lifespans under four years.

Which capybaras, as a class, achieve more matings than each dominant male?

A dominant male still secures far more matings than any single subordinate but cannot watch every female in a big group.

At about what age are capybara young weaned?

Until then they suckle from any female in the group, an example of alloparenting.

When does capybara breeding peak in Mato Grosso, Brazil?

In Venezuela the peak comes in April and May instead.

In which Florida city does a café let visitors give capybaras head scratches?

Contact is normally discouraged elsewhere because capybara ticks can carry disease.

Roughly how long is the lesser capybara's gestation period?

It breeds year-round and produces litters of about three or four pups.