Capybara
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For other uses, see
Capybara (disambiguation).
The
capybara[note 1] or
greater capybara (
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is a giant
cavy rodent native to
South America. It is the largest living
rodent[2] and a member of the genus
Hydrochoerus. The only other
extant member is the
lesser capybara (
Hydrochoerus isthmius). Its close relatives include
guinea pigs and
rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the
agouti, the
chinchilla, and the
coypu. The capybara inhabits
savannas and dense forests and lives near bodies of water. It is a highly social species and can be found in groups as large as 100 individuals, but usually lives in groups of 10–20 individuals. The capybara is not a threatened species and it is hunted for its meat and
hide and also for grease from its thick fatty
skin.
[3]
Contents
Etymology
Its
common name is derived from
Tupi ka'apiûara, a complex agglutination of
kaá (leaf) +
píi (slender) +
ú (eat) +
ara (a suffix for agent nouns), meaning "one who eats slender leaves", or "grass-eater".
[4]
The
scientific name, both
hydrochoerus and
hydrochaeris, comes from
Greek ὕδρω (
hydro "water") and χοῖρος (
choiros "pig, hog").
[5][6]
Classification and phylogeny
The capybara and the
lesser capybara belong to the subfamily
Hydrochoerinae along with the
rock cavies. The living capybaras and their
extinct relatives were previously classified in their own family Hydrochoeridae.
[7] Since 2002, molecular phylogenetic studies have recognized a close relationship between
Hydrochoerus and
Kerodon, the rock cavies,
[8] supporting placement of both genera in a subfamily of
Caviidae.
[5]
Paleontological classifications previously used Hydrochoeridae for all capybaras, while using Hydrochoerinae for the living genus and its closest fossil relatives, such as
Neochoerus,
[9][10] but more recently have adopted the classification of Hydrochoerinae within Caviidae.
[11] The taxonomy of fossil hydrochoerines is also in a state of flux. In recent years, the diversity of fossil hydrochoerines has been substantially reduced.
[9][10] This is largely due to the recognition that capybara
molar teeth show strong variation in shape over the life of an individual.
[9] In one instance, material once referred to four genera and seven species on the basis of differences in molar shape is now thought to represent differently aged individuals of a single species,
Cardiatherium paranense.
[9] Among fossil species, the name "capybara" can refer to the many species of Hydrochoerinae that are more closely related to the modern
Hydrochoerus than to the "cardiomyine" rodents like
Cardiomys.
[11] The fossil genera
Cardiatherium,
Phugatherium,
Hydrochoeropsis, and
Neochoerus are all capybaras under that concept.
Description
Taxidermy specimen of a capybara
Capybara skeleton
The capybara has a heavy,
barrel-shaped body and short head, with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of its body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Its sweat glands can be found in the surface of the hairy portions of its skin, an unusual trait among rodents.
[7] The animal lacks
down hair, and its
guard hair differs little from over hair.
[12]
Adult capybaras grow to 106 to 134 cm (3.48 to 4.40 ft) in length, stand 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 in) tall at the
withers, and typically weigh 35 to 66 kg (77 to 146 lb), with an average in the Venezuelan
llanos of 48.9 kg (108 lb).
[13][14][15] Females are slightly heavier than males. The top recorded weights are 91 kg (201 lb) for a wild female from Brazil and 73.5 kg (162 lb) for a wild male from Uruguay.
[7][16] Also, an 81 kg individual was reported in São Paulo in 2001 or 2002.
[17] The
dental formula is 1.0.1.31.0.1.3.
[7] Capybaras have slightly
webbed feet and
vestigial tails.
[7] Their hind legs are slightly longer than their forelegs; they have three toes on their rear feet and four toes on their front feet.
[18] Their muzzles are blunt, with nostrils, and the eyes and ears are near the top of their heads.
Its
karyotype has
2n = 66 and
FN = 102.
[5][7]
Ecology
Yellow-headed caracara on a capybara
A family of capybara swimming
Capybaras are
semiaquatic mammals
[15] found throughout almost all countries of South America except
Chile.
[19] They live in densely
forested areas near bodies of water, such as
lakes,
rivers,
swamps,
ponds, and
marshes,
[14] as well as flooded
savannah and along rivers in the
tropical rainforest. They are superb swimmers and can hold their breath underwater for up to five minutes at a time. Capybara have flourished in cattle ranches.
[7] They roam in home
ranges averaging 10 hectares (25 acres) in high-density populations.
[7]
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.
[20] These escaped populations occur in areas where prehistoric capybaras inhabited;
late Pleistocene capybaras inhabited Florida
[21] and
Hydrochoerus gaylordi in
Grenada, and feral capybaras in North America may actually fill the ecological niche of the Pleistocene species.
[22] In 2011, one specimen was spotted on the
Central Coast of California.
[23]
Diet and predation
Capybaras are
herbivores, grazing mainly on grasses and
aquatic plants,
[14][24] as well as
fruit and tree bark.
[15] They are very selective feeders
[25] and feed on the leaves of one species and disregard other species surrounding it. They eat a greater variety of plants during the dry season, as fewer plants are available. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to more abundant reeds during the dry season.
[26] Plants that capybaras eat during the summer lose their nutritional value in the winter, so they are not consumed at that time.
[25]
A Capybara eating Hay at Franklin Park Zoo, Boston, Massachusetts
The capybara's jaw hinge is not perpendicular, so they chew food by grinding back-and-forth rather than side-to-side.
[27] Capybaras are
autocoprophagous, meaning they eat their own
feces as a source of bacterial
gut flora, to help
digest the
cellulose in the grass that forms their normal diet, and to extract the maximum protein and vitamins from their food. They may also regurgitate food to masticate again, similar to cud-chewing by
cattle.
[28] As is the case with other rodents, the front teeth of capybaras grow continually to compensate for the constant wear from eating grasses;
[19] their cheek teeth also grow continuously.
[27]
Cattle tyrant on a capybara
Like its relative the guinea pig, the capybara does not have the capacity to synthesize
vitamin C, and capybaras not supplemented with vitamin C in captivity have been reported to develop gum disease as a sign of
scurvy.
[29]
They can have a
lifespan of 8–10 years,
[30] but tend to live less than four years in the wild due to predation from
jaguars,
pumas,
ocelots,
eagles, and
caimans.
[19] The capybara is also the preferred
prey of the
green anaconda.
[31]
Social organization
Capybaras have a scent gland on their noses, called a morrillo
Capybaras are known to be
gregarious. While they sometimes live solitarily, they are more commonly found in groups of around 10–20 individuals, with two to four adult males, four to seven adult females, and the remainder juveniles.
[32] Capybara groups can consist of as many as 50 or 100 individuals during the dry season
[28][33] when the animals gather around available water sources. Males establish social bonds, dominance, or general group consensus.[
clarification needed]
[33] They can make dog-like barks
[28] when threatened or when females are herding young.
[34]
Capybaras have two types of
scent glands; a morrillo, located on the snout, and
anal glands.
[35] Both sexes have these glands, but males have much larger morrillos and use their anal glands more frequently. The anal glands of males are also lined with detachable hairs. A crystalline form of scent secretion is coated on these hairs and is released when in contact with objects such as plants. These hairs have a longer-lasting scent mark and are tasted by other capybaras. Capybaras scent-mark by rubbing their morrillos on objects, or by walking over scrub and marking it with their anal glands. Capybaras can spread their scent further by urinating; however, females usually mark without urinating and scent-mark less frequently than males overall. Females mark more often during the wet season when they are in
estrus. In addition to objects, males also scent-mark females.
[35]
Reproduction
Mother with typical litter of about four pups.
When in
estrus, the female's scent changes subtly and nearby males begin pursuit.
[36] In addition, a female alerts males she is in estrus by whistling through her nose.
[28] During mating, the female has the advantage and mating choice. Capybaras mate only in water, and if a female does not want to mate with a certain male, she either submerges or leaves the water.
[28][33] Dominant males are highly protective of the females, but they usually cannot prevent some of the subordinates from copulating.
[36] 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.
[36] The lifespan of the capybara's sperm is longer than that of other rodents.
[37]
Mother and three pups
Capybara
gestation is 130–150 days, and produces a
litter of four young on average, but may produce between one and eight in a single litter.
[7] Birth is on land and the female rejoins the group within a few hours of delivering the newborn capybaras, which join the group as soon as they are mobile. Within a week, the young can eat grass, but continue to suckle—from any female in the group—until weaned around 16 weeks. The young form a group within the main group.
[19] Alloparenting has been observed in this species.
[33] Breeding peaks between April and May in Venezuela and between October and November in
Mato Grosso, Brazil.
[7]
Activities
Though quite
agile on land, capybaras are equally at home in the water. They are excellent swimmers, and can remain completely submerged for up to five minutes,
[14] an ability they use to evade
predators. Capybaras can sleep in water, keeping only their noses out. As temperatures increase during the day, they
wallow in water and then graze during the late afternoon and early evening.
[7] They also spend time wallowing in mud.
[18] They rest around
midnight and then continue to graze before
dawn.
Conservation and human interaction
Capybaras are not considered a
threatened species;
[1] their
population is stable throughout most of their South American range, though in some areas hunting has reduced their numbers.
[14][19]
Capybaras are hunted for their meat and
pelts in some areas,
[38] 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 the
wetland habitats are protected. Their survival is aided by their ability to breed rapidly.
[19]
Capybaras have adapted well to urbanization in South America. They can be found in many areas in
zoos and
parks,
[27] and may live for 12 years in
captivity, more than double their wild lifespan.
[19] Capybaras are docile and usually allow humans to pet and hand-feed them, but physical contact is normally discouraged, as their
ticks can be
vectors to
Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
[39]
The
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria asked
Drusillas Park in
Alfriston,
Sussex,
England to keep the
studbook for capybaras, to monitor captive populations in Europe. The studbook includes information about all births, deaths and movements of capybaras, as well as how they are related.
[40]
Capybaras are farmed for meat and skins in South America.
[41] The meat is considered unsuitable to eat in some areas, while in other areas it is considered an important source of protein.
[7] In parts of South America, especially in Venezuela, capybara meat is popular during
Lent and
Holy Week as the
Catholic Church previously issued special dispensation to allow it to be eaten while
other meats are generally forbidden.
[42] López de Ceballos (1974)
[43] as cited in Herrera & Barreto (2013)
[44] p. 307 states that after several attempts a 1784
Papal bull was obtained that allowed the consumption of capybara during Lent. There is widespread perception in Venezuela that consumption of capybaras is exclusive to rural people.
[45]
Although it is illegal in some
states,
[46] capybaras are occasionally kept as pets in the United States.
[47]
The image of a capybara features on the
2-peso coin of Uruguay.
[48]
In
Japan, following the lead of
Izu Shaboten Zoo in 1982,
[49] multiple establishments or zoos in Japan that raise capybaras have adopted the practice of having them relax in
onsen during the winter. They are seen as an attraction by Japanese people.
[49] Capybaras became big in Japan due to the popular cartoon character Kapibara-san.
[50]
Brazilian Lyme-like
borreliosis likely involves capybaras as reservoirs and
Amblyomma and
Rhipicephalus ticks as vectors.
[51]
See also
Notes
- Also called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru).
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External links
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