The Capybara (also known as a water pig), is an animal that is growing in popularity due to the influence of social media because of how unique they are. This has caused people to want them as pets or emotional support animals. But the phenomenon has also influenced how capybaras are used to help promote people and their social media accounts, filming capybaras while they eat a popsicle or plants, playing in the water, riding on alligators, and riding on the passenger seat of a car while the song “After Party” by Don Toliver is playing.
Capybaras are considered to be the largest rodent alive. They can range from 3-4 feet in length, 1.6 feet from feet to shoulder, and can weigh up to 60 – 174 pounds. Their life span can range from 12 – 10 years depending on their habitat.
Capybaras are commonly found in South America and some parts of Florida, where there are a lot of tropical forests that hold many different tropical animals. They tend to be in a small group of up to 10- 40 to help protect themselves from predators and other dangers that could harm them, and also to help them reproduce efficiently.
Like many other animals that are known to be cautious with their surroundings, Capybaras are very chill and fun to hang around. Even though they don’t get along very well with leopards, they like to hang around with alligators, to the point where alligators allow capybaras to hop on their backs while crawling on land or swimming.
Since Capybaras are considered herbivores, their diet consists of grass, a variety of water plants, and their own poop to help them . Plus they eat 6-8 pounds of grass a day. But during dry seasons, they tend to eat a variety of plants, melons, and squashes.
Capybaras are known for being great swimmers. They use this trait to get away from other predators, adapt to natural disasters. Their feet are partially webbed to give them a little bit of a boost when swimming.
Despite some local populations being wiped out by hunters or human impact, their population remains at normal levels because of laws restricting any sort of hunting or harvesting of capybaras by any method.
Capybaras have several natural predators, including panthers, pumas; and many other small creatures such as the boa constrictor, black vulture, small cats, and crab-eating foxes. Even with the amount of pressure they have been through by these predators, they still manage to become great friends with aanother common predator, the alligator.
Despite looking like your average pet dog, what they sound like is pretty unusual despite being considered a rodent. They tend to bark when danger is around, but they also like to use different sounds to communicate with each other. Such as chirping, and purring. The sounds they make have helped their community when danger is coming, regrouping when they get separated, finding an area that has good resources, and locating their mate.
The cute, rodent creature has become a famously popular subject on social media, being fed popsicles and riding on alligators. Capybaras are a most interesting rodent. Whether people love them or people hate them, others cannot deny that we appreciate them as the newest animal of interest.
Sources used for this article:
San Diego Zoo: https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/capybara
National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/cabybara-facts?loggedin=true&rnd=1730165914341