Capybara — Brevard Zoo — Melbourne, FL

Paws on Play

Expedition Africa

Wild Florida

La Selva

Australasia

Pygmy Marmoset
Spider Monkey
Squirrel Monkey
Swainson's Toucan
Baird's Tapir
Blue & Gold Macaw
Capybara
Coatimundi
Coscoroba Swan
Cotton-top Tamarin
Giant Anteater
Golden-Headed Lion Tamarin
Hyacinth Macaw
Two-toed Sloth
Golden Conure
Yellow-foot Tortoise
Red-foot Tortoise
King Vulture
Jaguar
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
White-faced Saki
Green Iguana
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
West Indian Whistling duck
Goeldi's Monkey

Capybara

Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is the largest rodent in the world, related to agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs. Its common name, derived from Kapi?va in the Guarani Indian language, means "Master of the Grasses" while its scientific name, hydrochaeris, is Greek for "water hog".

Capybara

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 centimeters (4.3 ft) and 50 centimeters (1.6 ft) tall, weighing up to 65 kg (140 lbs). Capybaras have slightly webbed feet and no tail; their back legs are slightly longer than their front legs and their muzzles are blunt with eyes, nostrils, and ears on top of their head. Capybaras have 20 teeth. Females are slightly heavier than males.

Though now extinct, there once existed larger capybaras that were eight times the size of modern capybaras (these rodents would have been larger than a grizzly bear).

Capybara are semi-aquatic mammalsfound wild in much of South America (including Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, French Guyana, Uruguay, Peru, and Paraguay) in densely forested areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds and marshes, such as flooded savanna and along rivers in tropical forest. They roam in home ranges of 25–50 acres (10–20 ha).