The world’s largest rodent: the capybara

It is the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), also known as chigüire, chigüiro or carpincho. It can measure 50-60 cm high and 1.3 m long and can weigh… more than 50 kg!

  • This species lives exclusively in South America.

  • It lives in more or less numerous groups in the vicinity of watercourses.

  • A curious feature is that their hind limbs are longer than the front ones, which makes them run in a very characteristic way.

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Capybaras’ hind limbs are longer than the front ones. In addition, they have interdigital swimming membranes, which allows them to be great swimmers. Bioweb.bio
  • They swim and dive perfectly, in fact they have interdigital membranes between their toes. When they feel threatened, they run to submerge themselves in the water.

  • They are herbivores.

  • Many times they are hunted for their skin to make leather and their meat low in cholesterol.

  • Other times they are hunted for the damage they supposedly cause to crops, so their density has been drastically reduced, although it is not considered an endangered species because it is abundant and widely distributed.

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