How Do Capybaras Work?

This characteristically chill, friendly animal is the largest rodent in the world. Learn more about the capybara in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/capybara.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Boga Bam here. For some reason,
not everybody loves rodents, but maybe because a few species
are pretty persistent in their efforts to share our homes
with us, and rats have long been credited with spreading
the bubonic plague, which killed millions of people in medieval

(00:23):
Europe and Asia, though technically it was the fleas that
rats and other small animals helped spread. But the taxonomic
order Rodentia is vast. A whopping of all mammal species
are rodents, which means the Norway rats you glimpse in
the shadows of the subway tunnel and the house mice
setting up a nursery in your attic are yes, both rodents,

(00:44):
but so are beavers, guinea pigs, porcupines, and chipmunks. There's
a lot to love there, but maybe none so charismatic
as the world's largest rodent, the capybara. Charisma is of
course very subjective and picture this though giant pig like
semi aquatic rodent about the size of a large dog,
whose eyes, ears, and nostrils sit basically at the top

(01:07):
of its head. They also have these weird, tiny webbed
feet that look kind of like hoofs. They're vegetarian and
eat between six and eight pounds of grass each day.
That's about two and a half to three and a
half kilos, and that's in addition to eating their first
poop of the morning. That poop contains lots of protein
from the microbes that have been feasting on the contents

(01:28):
of their intestines all night. Eating it allows them to
get nutrients out of the food that their system didn't
absorb the day before. Capabaras are native to Central and
South America, where they're doing extremely well. The International Union
for Conservation of Nature considers them a species of Least Concern,
even though they serve as a prey item for everything
from anticonda's to jaguars. And Capabaras need to stick pretty

(01:51):
close to the water wetland estuary river and not only
because they need to keep their skin moist, but also
because they require access to the grasses the grow near waterways.
About eight percent of their diet comes from five different
grass species. Another thing Capebara's need is each other. For
the article that this episode is based on, the team
at house Stuff Works spoke with Elizabeth Congdon, a capabara

(02:15):
researcher and professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at
Bethune Cookman University. She said capabaras are among the most
social of rodent species. Groups consist of a dominant male
and several subordinate females that tend to be related to
one another and their offspring. Females cooperate with one another
to the point of nursing another's infants and collectively defending

(02:35):
the young of the group against predators and potentially infanticidal males.
I've personally seen an adult female back down a large
spectacled cayman that was approaching her newborn. Groups of capabarras
can range from around ten two up to a hundred
during the dry season, and for the most part, their
daily activity involves a whole lot of chilling. Some have

(02:56):
called capabara's nature's ottomans because all sorts of animals seem
to enjoy sitting on a capybara's broad back. Monkeys, birds, cats,
other capybaras, you name it. Female capabarras like to play
with their young, teaching their daughters to be allies to
one another and sons to be competitive but since capybaras
have so many predators, and since a single male works

(03:17):
hard to keep as many females to himself as possible,
males are constantly on the lookout for funny business. Kongden said,
the male will aggressively defend his rank. These interactions between
males don't always reach the level of a full fight,
because grunting and chasing will usually do the trick. Females
not only stay in the group, but also help defend
territory against outsiders and predators by alarm calling when citing one.

(03:43):
And While it's true the capybaras are charming and some
people have begun keeping them as pets, which is legal
in some U S States like Texas and Pennsylvania, although
in most places you need to get a special license.
Keeping a capybara in your home isn't for everyone, or
even the vast majority of US. Papa bara's require a
lot of water space and friends. A solitary or even

(04:04):
pair of capa baras would probably be very unhappy. In Florida,
several have escaped, probably from a wildlife research facility, and
are hanging out in North Florida, possibly snuggling each other
with birds, sitting on their backs. It remains to be
seen whether Cape Barras will become Florida's next invasive speciets.

(04:27):
Today's episode is based on the article the charismatic Cape
Barra is Chiller than Your Dog on how stuff works
dot com, written by Jesslyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production
of by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuff Works
and is produced by Tyler clang Or More podcasts from
my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows