I love capybaras!
Table of contents:
My capybara art - Facts about capybaras - What I like about capybaras
"Should I get a pet capybara?" - Fictional capybaras - Capybara...bread?
Cappy the capybara - Prehistoric capybara?! - Links
My capybara art
Click the capy to go to the separate gallery!
Facts about capybaras
Want to know?
- Capybaras are the worlds largest rodent! Their closest relative is the guinea pig!
- Capybaras are semi-acquatic! They can hold their breath underwater for around 5 minutes!
- Capybaras used to be wrongly classified as pigs when discovered by colonizers...
- Capybaras are herbivores! Their name is derivied from the Tupi word "ka'apiûara" which roughly means "grass eater".
- A subspecies is the Lesser Capybara - they are found in one area of the Panama, and are called Lesser because they are slightly smaller and have less chromosomes!
(But I think they're lovely too...) - Capybaras start puberty later (10-12 months in the wild, 15 in captivity) and have longer pregnancies (5 months) than other rodents!
- Male capybaras have a scent gland above their nose called a morillo! Both sexes like to rub theirs on things to mark territory, but it's more pronounced in males
- They have four toes on their front paws, three on their back.
- Capybara fur is described as stiff and wiry.
- Capybaras bark like dogs and can also make chirping noises like guinea pigs! They can make different kinds of sounds depending on what they're communicating.
- Capybaras can run as fast as horses!?!
What I like about capybaras
What's not to like?
- Cute face shape, friendly eyes
- Round and chonky, like a Pokemon evolution of a guinea pig
- Friendly and sociable, especially to other animals
- Is there anything cuter than a baby capybara? No!
- The way they wiggle their ears
- Webbed feeties
(So cute!!!)
"Should I get a pet capybara?"
You might not like the answer...
NO!
DO NOT BUY A PET CAPYBARA!
The vast majority of people (including me, and probably you) are not suited to take care for a capybara, unless you're rich enough to emulate it's natural habitat (grazing space, a place to swim, another capybara to bond with), and are ok with a 100+ pound guinea pig that will eat your furniture/electronics and shit everywhere!
Capybaras are not a meme animal you can buy for fun like a dog!
Fictional capybaras
(Note: This section is not mobile responsive and looks weird on desktop. Sorry!!! To be fixed.)
(Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with all of these!)
- Kip the Capybara from IDW Sonic
- Chispi from Encanto
- Capybara pets in Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon
- Kapiba enemies in Xenoblade Chronicles 2
- Rajinmaru from World Trigger
- Capybara Pup (Minion) from Final Fantasy XIV
- Capybara from Super Animal Royale
- Bara from Kiki's Vacation
- Galactic Rodents of Mayhem
- Kapipi from World Flipper
- Capybarian from Space Dandy
- Coal from Jewelpet
- Capybara from Kemono Friends
- Martha from Magician's Quest: Stylish Wizard
- Kappi, mascot of Mamaworks
- Capitan, mascot of Nagasaki Bio Park
- Rimumunn, (retired) mascot of Rim Shopping Mall (Fukuyama, Japan)
- Kapiyan, mascot of Kasugade Shopping Street (Osaka, Japan)
- Capybara Spa
- Capybara in Animal Jam
- Capybara Knight from Rodent Warriors
- Extremely Powerful Capybaras
- Stick from New Roots
- Peter from Furries & Scalies & Scarecrows OH MY!
- Kapibara-san
- Zizito, 2019 Copa América mascot
- Todd Capybara from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Clara from Rio 2
- Capybara King from Skylanders
Are there any fictional capybaras I'm missing? Feel free to e-mail them to me at paccet@proton.me! Animation, games, webcomics, mascots, webcomics are all allowed! The only "rules" is it has to at least have a name (no one-off gags/cameos) or you can interact with it if it's from a game, no V-tubers, and no purely NSFW media (yes, there's at least two I didn't add LOL).
Capybara...bread? (Pãopivara)
I found this in a Youtube video that was later taken offline, but I saved the description and Google translated the steps from Portugese to English! I have not tried this, but it was the instructions on a TV show in Brazil.
Hand over that recipe! I'm hungry!
Pãopivara: homemade stuffed bread
Ingredients - Bread
Ingredients - Stuffing
Ingredients - Capybara face and expression
Preparation - Bread dough
Cappy the capybara
In 2017, I got to see a capybara at a sanctuary for my 25th birthday! I will post more information about it when I find it, but until then here's some photos I took.
Prehistoric capybara?!
(source)
Not quite, Josephoartigasia is more closely related to the pacarana. It still has a lot of physical similarities to capybaras so it's easy to compare them.
Josephoartigasia would have been the REAL world's largest rodent if not extinct - It's roughly 4-5 feet tall, 8 feet long, and over 1000 pounds. It's skull has been identified and measures 1 foot and 9 inches in length. Basically a bull sized rodent! The previous largest identified rodent was the Phoberomys pattersoni.
It lived during the Pilocene to early Pleistocene era in an forested esturine environment. It supposedly mostly ate fruits and soft plants, but it could definately eat more with it's calculated bite force via its huge skull.
I still want to know more!
(source)
Links to more capybara content (including sources for photos)
Links!