I will be taking a quick detour from my series 'Funny Cartoon Animals In Real Life'. I am doing this inorder to give some information on one of the coolest animals around, the capybara.
The capybara is the largest living rodent in the world. Close relatives include chinchillas and guinea pigs.
MY Capybara Rant.
If you happen to find one of these in your house, you must really have a pig sty. Seriously, this isn't a tiny mouse. It is the largest rodent in the world. Please do yourself and your neighbors a favor, clean your house.
Here is my personal anecdote. My father once told me a story about a run in with a capybara. A friend of a friend brought home a pet dog for his child. The child was so happy, he slept with the dog. After a few nights, the childs parents were awoken to the childs screams.The pet dog bit of the childs toe! It turns out the dog was not a dog, it was a rodent that looked like a dog!! I can not confirm that this rodent/dog was a capybara, but I always assumed it was. I think a capybara could pass for an ugly dog.
Capybara INFO
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.
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.
Capybaras have heavy, barrel-shaped bodies and short heads with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of their body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Adult capybaras may grow to 130 centimetres (4.3 ft) in length, and weigh up to 65 kg (140 lb). The top recorded weight is 105.4 kg (232 lbs). Capybaras have slightly webbed feet, no tail and 20 teeth. Females are slightly heavier than males. Females average 36 to 66 kg (80 to 145 pounds), while males typically weigh about 34 to 61 kilograms (75 to 135 pounds).
Capybara are semi-aquatic mammals found wild in much of South America in densely forested areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds and marshes, as well as flooded savannah and along rivers in tropical forest.
Capybaras are herbivores, 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.
