Capybara Facts!
-
Capybaras can run up to 35 kilometers per hours which is as fast as a horse!
-
Capybaras don't mind being alone, but they also live in groups of up to 40.
-
Like other rodents, capybaras’ teeth grow continuously, and they wear them down by grazing on aquatic plants, grasses, and other plentiful plants.
-
They are a favorite snack food of snakes like the boa constrictor, crab-eating foxes, small cats, and birds of prey like the caracara and black vulture.
-
In certain communities, capybaras are eaten as a meal that is combined with plaintains, black beans and rice.
-
Despite spending a number of hours during the night grazing, the Capybara is quite fussy with around 75% of their diet involving between three and six different species of plant.
-
The Capybara is a very sociable animal that tends to inhabit densely vegetated areas close to water in herds of around 20 individuals, which are usually made up of a dominant male with a number of females and their young.
-
Capybara are known to communicate between one another using both scent (which is secreted by their glands) and sound, and have a number of different vocalisations including whistles, barks, grunts and squeals.
-
Wildcats including Jaguars, Pumas and Ocelots are the primary predators of the Capybara along with Caimans and Eagles that can hunt the younger ones from the sky above.
