The Facts A Capybara is a large rodent that was originally from south america, they are the biggest rodents in the world and they are adapted to their environment by having their noses high up in their body so they can almost fully emerge their body in the water and still breath, smell, hear and see. this helps to avoid their predators. Capybara are prone the sun and this means sunburn! To avoid sunburn the large rodents only come out early in the morning and late evening and avoid being out in the heat of the day.
Capybaras live in groups and they are always on the look out for each other. when one Capybara spots danger it will give a call that alerts the group and they will hide the young and themselves in the vegetation to avoid being caught. Capybaras have short lives and a Capybara in the wild will live to be around 10 years old 12 years in captivity. Capybaras are herbivores so they only eat grass and water based plants but occasionally they will eat fruit and even bark off trees! They will eat around 3kg of food every day. Capybaras will live anywhere warm, near a lake or water and where there is plants, grass and trees. Baby Capybara are not very good at swimming at first so they stay on land and the female Capybara take turns to look after them. A Capybara can weigh up to 175 pounds but the average weight is around 100 pounds. sometimes a male will challenge the leader of the group and they will both charge at each other, stand on two legs and scare each other until one Capybara runs off. Male Capybaras have a sent gland on their nose and they use this to mark their territory or to warn other male Capybaras off. Capybaras are around 50cm tall (fully grown) and a baby Capybara can be around 15-20cm. until 1969 Capybaras were hunted for their skin until it was banned because they were becoming so rare. The Capybaras main hunter is the crocodile/caymen but they are still hunted by anacondas even though they are as big as a pig! |