Capybara
Encyclopedia
The capybara also known as capivara in Portuguese
, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela
, Colombia
, and Ecuador
ronsoco in Peru
, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish
, is the largest living rodent
in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti
, chinchilla
s, coyphillas, and guinea pig
s. Its common name
, derived from Kapiÿva in the Guarani language
, means "master of the grasses" while its scientific name, both hydrochoerus and hydrochaeris, comes from Greek
ὕδρω (hydro = water) + χοίρος (choiros = pig, hog).
-shaped bodies and short heads with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of their body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Adult capybaras grow to 107 to 134 cm (3.5 to 4.4 ft) in length, stand 50 to 64 cm (19.7 to 25.2 in) tall at the withers
and typically weigh 35 to 66 kg (77.2 to 145.5 lb), with an average in the Venezuela
n llanos
of 48.9 kg (107.8 lb). The top recorded weight are 105.4 kg (232 lbs) for what was likely a zoo-kept specimen, 91 kg (200.6 lb) for a wild female from Brazil
and 73.5 kg (162 lb) for a wild male from Uruguay
. Capybaras have slightly webbed
feet, no tail and 20 teeth. Their back legs are slightly longer than their front legs and their muzzles are blunt with eyes, nostrils, and ears on top of their head. Females are slightly heavier than males.
Its karyotype
has 2n = 66 and FN = 102.
A larger capybara called Neochoerus pinckneyi
once existed in North America
, having invaded that continent during the Great American Interchange
that followed formation of the Isthmus of Panama
. Other fossil caviomorphs that were eight times the size of modern capybaras have been called "capybaras" by the popular press, but were actually dinomyid
s related to the pacarana
.
There is also an extant "lesser capybara
", Hydrochoerus isthmius, with a disjoint range
in Colombia
, Venezuela
and Panama
.
Capybara are semi-aquatic mammals found wild in much of South America (including Colombia, Ecuador
, Bolivia
, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina
, Guyana
, Suriname
, French Guiana
, Uruguay
, Peru
, and Paraguay
) in densely forest
ed areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds and marshes, as well as flooded savannah
and along rivers in tropical forest. They roam in home range
s of 25–50 acre
s (10–20 ha).
Many escapees from captivity can also be found in similar watery habitats around the world. Sightings are fairly common in Florida
, although a breeding population has not yet been confirmed. Though it has been erroneously stated that a population of capybara existed in the River Arno
in Florence
, Italy, this was determined to be the nutria or coypu
(Myocastor coypus), a considerably smaller South American aquatic rodent with a similar appearance. Recently, it has been spotted in the Central Coast of California.
s, grazing mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, as well as fruit
and tree bark. An adult capybara will eat 6 to 8 pounds (2.7 to 3.6 kg) of grasses per day. Capybara are very selective feeders with four to six plant species making 75% of its diet. They will select the leaves of one species and disregard other species surrounding it. Capybaras eat a greater variety of plants during the dry season as there are fewer plants available. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to reeds during the dry season as they are more abundant. Plants that capybaras eat during the summer lose their nutritional value in the winter and are thus not consumed at that time. The capybara's jaw hinge is non-perpendicular and they thus chew food by grinding back and forth rather than side-to-side. Capybaras are coprophagous, meaning they eat their own feces
as a source of bacterial gut flora
and to help digest
the cellulose
in the grass that forms their normal diet and extract the maximum protein from their food. They may also regurgitate food to masticate again, similar to cud-chewing by a cow.
Like its cousin the guinea pig
, the capybara does not have the capacity to synthesize vitamin C
, and capybaras unsupplemented with vitamin C in captivity have been reported to develop gum disease as a sign of scurvy
.
They can have a life span
of 8–10 years in the wild but average a life less than four years as they are "a favourite food
of jaguar
, puma, ocelot
, eagle
and caiman
". The capybara is also the preferred prey of the anaconda.
Capybara are farmed for meat and skins in South America. It is widely believed that capybara were declared by Papal Bull
to be fish so they may be eaten during Lent. Because of this belief, poaching increases during the period right before Easter.
Capybara have two different scent glands; a morillo, located on the snout, and an anal gland. Both sexes have those glands but males have larger morillos and their anal pockets can open more easily. The anal glands of males are also lined with detachable hairs. A crystalline form of scent secretion is coated on these hairs and are release when in contact with objects like plants. These hairs have a longer lasting scent mark and are tasted by other capybaras. A capybaras marks by rubbing its morillo on an object or by walking over a scrub and marking with its anal gland. A cabypara can spread its scent further by urinating. However females usually mark without urinating and mark less frequently than males overall. Females mark more often during the wet season when they are in estrus. In addition to objects, males will also mark females.
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. Alloparenting
has been observed in this species. 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 from eating grasses; their cheek teeth also grow continuously. 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.
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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 over the waterline.
During midday, as temperatures increase, they wallow in water and then graze in late afternoons and early evenings when it is cooler. They sleep little, usually dozing off and on throughout the day and grazing into and through the night.
; their population
is stable through most of their South American ranges, though in some areas hunting has reduced their numbers.
Capybaras are hunted for their meat and pelts 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 ensuring that the wetland
habitats are protected. Their survival is aided by their ability to breed rapidly.
Capybaras can be found in many areas in zoo
s and park
s, and may live for 12 years in captivity
. Capybaras are gentle and will usually allow humans to pet and hand-feed them.
The meat is said to taste like pork. During Lent
, capybara meat is especially popular in parts of South America, especially in Venezuela
, as it is claimed that the Catholic Church, in a special dispensation, allowed capybara meat to be consumed on days that consumption of meat was otherwise not allowed. There are differing accounts of how the dispensation arose. Capybaras are occasionally kept as pets in the United States, though it is illegal in some states and in various other countries.
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ronsoco in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, is the largest living rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti
Common agouti
The popular term Agouti designates several rodent species of the genus Dasyprocta that inhabit areas of Middle America, the West Indies, and northern South America. They are related to guinea pigs and look quite similar but have longer legs. The species vary in color from tawny to dark brown with...
, chinchilla
Chinchilla
Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they make up the family Chinchillidae....
s, coyphillas, and guinea pig
Guinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
s. Its common name
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
, derived from Kapiÿva in the Guarani language
Guaraní language
Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí–Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and half of...
, means "master of the grasses" while its scientific name, both hydrochoerus and hydrochaeris, comes from Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
ὕδρω (hydro = water) + χοίρος (choiros = pig, hog).
Description
Capybaras have heavy, barrelBarrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...
-shaped bodies and short heads with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of their body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Adult capybaras grow to 107 to 134 cm (3.5 to 4.4 ft) in length, stand 50 to 64 cm (19.7 to 25.2 in) tall at the withers
Withers
The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...
and typically weigh 35 to 66 kg (77.2 to 145.5 lb), with an average in the Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n llanos
Llanos
The Llanos is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the Flooded grasslands and savannas Biome....
of 48.9 kg (107.8 lb). The top recorded weight are 105.4 kg (232 lbs) for what was likely a zoo-kept specimen, 91 kg (200.6 lb) for a wild female from Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and 73.5 kg (162 lb) for a wild male from Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. Capybaras have slightly webbed
Interdigital webbing
Interdigital webbing is the presence of membranes of skin between the digits. Normally in mammals, webbing is present in the embryo but resorbed later in development, but in various mammal species it occasionally persists in adulthood...
feet, no tail and 20 teeth. Their back legs are slightly longer than their front legs and their muzzles are blunt with eyes, nostrils, and ears on top of their head. Females are slightly heavier than males.
Its karyotype
Karyotype
A karyotype is the number and appearance of chromosomes in the nucleus of an eukaryotic cell. The term is also used for the complete set of chromosomes in a species, or an individual organism.p28...
has 2n = 66 and FN = 102.
Fossil record and other species
Neochoerus pinckneyi
Neochoerus pinckneyi was a North American species of capybara. While capybaras originated in South America, formation of the Isthmus of Panama three million years ago allowed some of them to migrate north as part of the Great American Interchange...
once existed in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, having invaded that continent during the Great American Interchange
Great American Interchange
The Great American Interchange was an important paleozoogeographic event in which land and freshwater fauna migrated from North America via Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the formerly separated continents...
that followed formation of the Isthmus of Panama
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal...
. Other fossil caviomorphs that were eight times the size of modern capybaras have been called "capybaras" by the popular press, but were actually dinomyid
Dinomyidae
Dinomyidae was once a very speciose group of South American hystricognath rodent, but now contains only a single living species, the Pacarana. The Dinomyidae included among its ranks the largest rodents known to date, the bison-sized Josephoartigasia monesi and the smaller Josephoartigasia magna...
s related to the pacarana
Pacarana
The Pacarana is a rare and slow-moving nocturnal rodent found only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia, including the yungas. One place that it is common is Cotapata National...
.
There is also an extant "lesser capybara
Lesser capybara
The lesser capybara is a large semiaquatic rodent of the family Caviidae found in eastern Panama, northwestern Colombia and western Venezuela. It was recognized as a distinct subspecies of capybara in 1912, and was elevated to species status in 1991. It breeds year-round, with an average litter...
", Hydrochoerus isthmius, with a disjoint range
in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
.
Ecology
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, and Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
) in densely forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
ed areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds and marshes, as well as flooded savannah
Savannah
Savannah or savanna is a type of grassland.It can also mean:-People:* Savannah King, a Canadian freestyle swimmer* Savannah Outen, a singer who gained popularity on You Tube...
and along rivers in tropical forest. They roam in home range
Range (biology)
In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density.The term is often qualified:...
s of 25–50 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (10–20 ha).
Many escapees from captivity can also be found in similar watery habitats around the world. Sightings are fairly common in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, although a breeding population has not yet been confirmed. Though it has been erroneously stated that a population of capybara existed in the River Arno
Arno
The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.- Source and route :The river originates on Mount Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a southward curve...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy, this was determined to be the nutria or coypu
Coypu
The coypu , , also known as the river rat, and nutria, is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent and the only member of the family Myocastoridae. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, primarily by...
(Myocastor coypus), a considerably smaller South American aquatic rodent with a similar appearance. Recently, it has been spotted in the Central Coast of California.
Diet and predation
Capybaras are herbivoreHerbivore
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...
s, grazing mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, as well as fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and tree bark. An adult capybara will eat 6 to 8 pounds (2.7 to 3.6 kg) of grasses per day. Capybara are very selective feeders with four to six plant species making 75% of its diet. They will select the leaves of one species and disregard other species surrounding it. Capybaras eat a greater variety of plants during the dry season as there are fewer plants available. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to reeds during the dry season as they are more abundant. Plants that capybaras eat during the summer lose their nutritional value in the winter and are thus not consumed at that time. The capybara's jaw hinge is non-perpendicular and they thus chew food by grinding back and forth rather than side-to-side. Capybaras are coprophagous, meaning they eat their own feces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
as a source of bacterial gut flora
Gut flora
Gut flora consists of microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts of animals and is the largest reservoir of human flora. In this context, gut is synonymous with intestinal, and flora with microbiota and microflora....
and to help digest
Digestion
Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into smaller components that are more easily absorbed into a blood stream, for instance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: a breakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones....
the cellulose
Cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....
in the grass that forms their normal diet and extract the maximum protein from their food. They may also regurgitate food to masticate again, similar to cud-chewing by a cow.
Like its cousin the guinea pig
Guinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
, the capybara does not have the capacity to synthesize vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
, and capybaras unsupplemented with vitamin C in captivity have been reported to develop gum disease as a sign of scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
.
They can have a life span
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
of 8–10 years in the wild but average a life less than four years as they are "a favourite food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
of jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
, puma, ocelot
Ocelot
The ocelot , pronounced /ˈɒsəˌlɒt/, also known as the dwarf leopard or McKenney's wildcat is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America and Mexico, but has been reported as far north as Texas and in Trinidad, in the Caribbean...
, eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
and caiman
Caiman
Caimans are alligatorid crocodylians within the subfamily Caimaninae. The group is one of two subfamilies of the family Alligatoridae, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Central and South America. They are relatively small crocodilians, with most species reaching lengths of only a few...
". The capybara is also the preferred prey of the anaconda.
Capybara are farmed for meat and skins in South America. It is widely believed that capybara were declared by Papal Bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
to be fish so they may be eaten during Lent. Because of this belief, poaching increases during the period right before Easter.
Natural history
Capybaras are very gregarious. While they do sometimes live solitarily they are more commonly found in groups that average 10-20 individuals, with 2-4 of them being adult males, 4-7 being adult females and the rest being juveniles. Capybara groups can consist of as many as 50 or 100 individuals during the dry season, when the animals gather around available water sources. Males are organized in stable, linear hierarchies. The dominant male in each group is significantly heavier than any of the subordinates, but among subordinates, status is not correlated with weight. The dominant male is positioned in the center of the group while subordinates are on the periphery. These hierarchies are established early in life among the young with play fights and mock copulations. The most dominant males have access to the best resources. Capybaras are very vocal and, when in groups, chatter with each other to establish social bonds, dominance or general group census. They can make a dog-like bark which is made when the animals are threatened or when females are herding young. The bark of a capybara is often mistaken for that of a dog.Capybara have two different scent glands; a morillo, located on the snout, and an anal gland. Both sexes have those glands but males have larger morillos and their anal pockets can open more easily. The anal glands of males are also lined with detachable hairs. A crystalline form of scent secretion is coated on these hairs and are release when in contact with objects like plants. These hairs have a longer lasting scent mark and are tasted by other capybaras. A capybaras marks by rubbing its morillo on an object or by walking over a scrub and marking with its anal gland. A cabypara can spread its scent further by urinating. However females usually mark without urinating and mark less frequently than males overall. Females mark more often during the wet season when they are in estrus. In addition to objects, males will also mark females.
Reproduction
When in estrus, the female's scent changes subtly and nearby males begin pursuit. In addition, a female will alert males that she is in estrus by whistling though her nose. During mating, the female has the advantage and mating choice. Capybaras mate only in the water and if a female does not want to mate with a certain male she will either submerge or leave the water. Dominant males are highly protective of the females, however they usually can’t prevent all the subordinates from copulating. The larger the group, the harder it is for the male to watch all the females. Dominant males secure significantly more matings than each subordinate, but subordinate males, as a class, are responsible for more matings than each dominant male. The lifespan of the capybara's sperm is longer than that of other rodents.Capybara gestation
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
is 130–150 days and usually produces a litter
Litter (animal)
A litter is the offspring at one birth of animals from the same mother and usually from one set of parents. The word is most often used for the offspring of mammals, but can be used for any animal that gives birth to multiple young. In comparison, a group of eggs and the offspring that hatch from...
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
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
- from any female in the group - until weaned at about 16 weeks. Youngsters will form a group within the main group. Alloparenting
Alloparenting
In biology and sociology, alloparenting is where individuals other than the actual parents act in a parental role.One common form of alloparenting is where grandparents adopt a parental role. This is sometimes named a "skipped generation household"...
has been observed in this species. The rainy season of April and May mark the peak breeding season
Season
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...
. Like other rodents, the front teeth of capybaras grow continually to compensate for the constant wearing-down from eating grasses; their cheek teeth also grow continuously. When fully grown, a capybara will have coarse hair that is sparsely spread over their skin, making the capybara prone to sunburn
Sunburn
A sunburn is a burn to living tissue, such as skin, which is produced by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation, commonly from the sun's rays. Usual mild symptoms in humans and other animals include red or reddish skin that is hot to the touch, general fatigue, and mild dizziness. An excess of UV...
. To prevent this, they may roll in mud to protect their skin from the sun.
Activities
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 over the waterline.
During midday, as temperatures increase, they wallow in water and then graze in late afternoons and early evenings when it is cooler. They sleep little, usually dozing off and on throughout the day and grazing into and through the night.
Conservation and human interaction
Capybara are not on the IUCN list and therefore not considered a threatened speciesThreatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
; their population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
is stable through most of their South American ranges, though in some areas hunting has reduced their numbers.
Capybaras are hunted for their meat and pelts in some areas, and otherwise killed by humans who see their grazing as competition for livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
. In some areas they are farmed, which has the effect of ensuring that the wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
habitats are protected. Their survival is aided by their ability to breed rapidly.
Capybaras can be found in many areas in zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
s and park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s, and may live for 12 years in captivity
Captivity (animal)
Animals that live under human care are in captivity. Captivity can be used as a generalizing term to describe the keeping of either domesticated animals or wild animals. This may include for example farms, private homes and zoos...
. Capybaras are gentle and will usually allow humans to pet and hand-feed them.
The meat is said to taste like pork. During Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
, capybara meat is especially popular in parts of South America, especially in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, as it is claimed that the Catholic Church, in a special dispensation, allowed capybara meat to be consumed on days that consumption of meat was otherwise not allowed. There are differing accounts of how the dispensation arose. Capybaras are occasionally kept as pets in the United States, though it is illegal in some states and in various other countries.