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© Sedgwick County Zoo, credit: Bill Chambers

Capybara

Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris

Physical Characteristics

  • The capybara is the largest living rodent. The long, coarse pelage is very sparse and is reddish-brown to gray on the upper parts and yellow-brown below. Occasionally there will be some black on the face, outer limbs and the rump.
  • Size of average adult
    • length: 3 - 4 feet
    • height: 1.5 feet
    • weight: 59 - 174 pounds
  • Approximate life span is 9 years.

Diet

  • Wild: mainly grasses, also aquatic plants, grains, melons and squashes

Behavior

  • Active in the morning and evening, resting during the heat of the day in a shallow burrow in the ground
  • Has become nocturnal in areas populated by humans
  • When threatened will run like a horse, when predator is close will enter the water
  • When in the water, only the nostrils, eyes and ears are visible
  • Reproduction
    • sexual maturity: 15 months
    • breeding season: peaks in April and May
    • gestation : 149 -156 days
    • usually 1 litter per year with 1 - 8 young per litter

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: densely-vegetated areas around ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, marshes and swamps
  • Distribution: Panama, to east of the Canal Zone, and on the east side of the Andes in South America from Columbia and the Guineas to Uruguay and northeastern Argentina
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