UPDATE: As Matthew notes in the first comment below, he wrote a longer post on the capybara this January, and I’ve simply forgotten (the video below is new, though). His post is very good, and you can find it here. My only excuse is that I easily forget things that I’ve written here, much less those written by others.
____________
In case you didn’t know, the world’s largest rodent is the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), a denizen of South America. They’re about 0.6 m (2 feet) tall at the shoulder when grown, and are semiaquatic herbivores that, according to Wikipedia, weigh between 35-66 kg (77-150 lb.). Visit the Capybara Page for more information.
The one in this video, named Gary, is the only pet capybara I’ve heard of, and lives in Texas.
Well, there’s one exception. When I took the Organization for Tropical Studies course in 1973, the course coordinator, the famous biologist Dan Janzen, was toting a small capybara around with him (his son was there, too). He called it “Tempesquintle,” apparently the Mayan name for the beast. It was, and still is, eten as a delicacy (I’m told that it tastes like chicken, LOL). I hope Dan’s pet didn’t end up in the stewpot.
Here’s its present range:
You could have heard of – and heard – a pet capybara if you’d read this excellent blog:
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/a-jumpy-paca/
Thank you Matthew, even though you used the b-word to refer to this site!
Sorry I forgot!
Guys, capybara also occur on at least one side of the Panama Canal. I can send you a picture of the ones running around in Gamboa if you like, we enjoyed their company last December while at a marine conservation meeting there.
I LOVE capybaras as I do cavies in general. They are like big guinea pigs! I never thought you’d be able to keep one as a pet. Now I want one!
Capybaras aren’t found N of Panama, and Dan’s pet was a paca–related to capybaras, but unlike them nocturnal, not aquatic, and much smaller. Both are tasty…
Thanks, Harry, I stand corrected. You’re right–it was a paca.
That makes a lot more sense. I was wondering why the Mayans would have had their own word for an animal they would not have encoutered.
PS I saw an agouti in Costa Rica. It’s the only caviomorph I’ve had the good fortune to see in the wild.
This reminds me of Bill Peet, author and illustrator of many children’s books. He and his family had a capybara. One of his volumes is about the creature:
http://www.billpeet.net/PAGES/capy.htm
Not to throw water on this discussion–the capybaras *are* cute and all–but please let’s not encourage the keeping of exotics as pets. There is apparently already a breeding population of capybaras in Florida as a result of escapes, and last year there were news stories about a lone capybara roaming around California somewhere. If you’re dead set on having an introduced exotic as a pet, do what I did and get a cat or four. They make excellent pets, and are potentially even cuter than capybaras.
Agreed – they are a lot of work and it isn’t really fair to the animal to keep it. I had guinea pigs that I thought were a lot of work to keep them (I had to give them doses of vitamin C by grinding vitamin C tablets up into water and using a syringe because they wouldn’t eat other vitamin C rich goods and would get scurvy), timothy hay was expensive (and dusty), they needed a fairly large enclosure (not tiny cages they sell in stores) and plenty of fresh greens and veggie (they can’t just live on pellet food). Not to mention cleaning their cage and filling it with aspen shavings.
A capy would be that an a way bigger scale! I think if you didn’t train them properly they could be very dangerous as well.
I had exotic reptiles. I know Florida has a pretty big problem with loosed pythons right now. I agree that there should be more oversight as to who can have exotic animals. Actually, I wish there could be more oversight concerning all animals brought into homes – but that just won’t happen. There is certainly an appeal to the exotics, probably more to do with bragging rights than genuine interest in the animal.
I’ve never really understood the appeal as Guinea pigs as pets (they always seem terrified as evidenced by their …screams), but this fella…oh he just needs a good cheek scratchin’…and then kisses all over that muzzle. I want a pet rat that large. I know there are some African versions that are the size of small cats, but they aren’t readily available here. I want a lab-sized rat. Probably female. The balls are big enough on the normal sized male rats. I don’t think I would want to snuggle next to pillow-sized testicles. What AM I going on about? Oh..yeah..Capybaras rock. Also, I want a mouse-sized elephant and a goldfish sized dolphin. I want an aquarium full of frollicking happy dolphins. Is that too much to ask for?
I had guinea pigs as pets. You need to tame them somewhat and that takes time and patience as they are timid little things. I had one piggy that was very cuddly and docile and another one that was a dominant pig who would nip if she didn’t get her way (and I had to discipline her with little tugs to her fur to get her to stop that naughty behaviour). Guinea pigs are very cute – especially when they squeak because they hear the sounds of food coming or “popcorn” (jump for joy) when they are happy about something.
Agree! When the kids were young, we had guinea pigs Piggish and Sputnik (sequentially). SO cute & sweet! Piggish was always seeking kisses–well, nose touches. Very interactive and conversational pets.
Really? I guess I haven’t been around them that much. All the ones I’ve seen have been terrified and just quivered with fear between squistles. I always thought they were cute but would feel bad having an animal that was constantly quaking with fright.
My first rat though, December, she was absolutely amazing. She was very gregarious, intelligent, and the most playful pet I’ve ever owned. She would run across the room, hop on my foot, hop off and turn on her back so that I could tickle her belly while she tickled me back with her feet and gently nibbled my hand. She was free roam, potty trained, and would fall asleep curled up in my hair as the night faded to morning. I miss her. Pet rats’ lives are brutally short. If they lived longer, I would probably still have them as pets.
*awaiting the praise and glory for making up “squistle”, THE best ever description of a Guinea pig noise*
Oh, we had rats, too. Fifi, Lulu, and Puddleglum. Agree, rats make wonderful pets. 😀
Also agree that their short lives (and often tumorous deaths) are hard to take.
“At least as intelligent as dogs – maybe more.”
Arent’ all animals?
I ate capybara in Brazil (there called capivara) several years ago, and found it not at all chickeny — rather oily, and like beef in color.
In Colombia I went to a resturant. All they had was lapara, which I did not know. I asked if it was a monkey. No, it lives on the jungle floor. It was good. A lapara is similar to an agouti. I have seen a pet agouti which seemed like a nice pet.
Capybara, called chiguire in Venezuela, are thought of as fish, and eaten during lent. Ranchers round them up and make the year’s expenses off their chiguire. I’ve only had it previously dried, and it was OK.
That fish designation reminds me that the pope declaring certain animals “fish” has not helped with threatened species. Sea turtles, which have dwindling numbers, are eaten as “fish” in Latin America during Lent.
Another stupid thing that religion does that causes harm.
I don’t know if the pope sanctioned it, but it’s definitely the catlick church that categorized the capybara as a fish (so people can eat it on fridays during the religious season of lent). I guess you can’t expect much of a church built to worship a god who thinks whales are fish.
I have met the capybara in the “I don’t like snow” video in the previous capy post. His name is Dobby and he lives near Seattle.
He has his own website and he is very entertaining on Facebook: http://petcapybara.com/
“Tempesquintle,”
Usually transcribed as tepezcuintle, I believe. (Jeez, a paca pedant!)
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.
A colleague recently did some fish collecting in Ecuador. He told me they use US dollars for currency, which I did not know, and that they eat guinea pigs, which did not surprise me. An upscale resturant offered a guinea pig plate for $42. My friends did not try it.
The best pet you can have. Not at all dangerous. Very calm and friendly.