capybara

[Portuguese capybara, from Tupi capivara, capibara : capii, grass + urara, eater.]

For more information on capybara, visit Britannica.com.

(Hydrochaeridae)

Class: Mammalia

Order: Rodentia

Suborder: Hystricognathi

Family: Hydrochaeridae

Thumbnail description
Large terrestrial and semi-aquatic herbivore rodent; the body is covered with coarse, reddish brown to grayish hair; underparts are lighter yellow-brown

Size
Head and body length 39.4–51.2 in (100–130 cm); shoulder height up to 19.7 in (50 cm); average weight 138.9 lb (63 kg)

Number of genera, species
1 genus; 1 species

Habitat
Lowland wetlands of forest, woodland, savanna, and open areas

Conservation status
Not threatened

Distribution
Range spans in lowlands from Panama throughout South America to Northern Argentina and Uruguay

Evolution and systematics

Capybaras of today do not differ essentially from those forms of the past. Many Pleistocene rodents, such as capybaras, have probably undergone little change in the past million years. Cenozoic fossils recovered from the Antilles island of Grenada differ from the existing capybara.

There is only one single living genus and species, Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris; some authors consider the smaller form of capybara living in Panama, western Colombia, and northwestern Venezuela (H. isthmius) as a separate species; other consider this form a subspecies, H. h. isthmius.

The taxonomy for this species is Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766), Suriname. Other common names include "capivara" in Portuguese and "carpincho" and "chigüire" in Spanish.

Physical characteristics

Capybaras resemble agoutis but are much larger. The head is large and broad, the ears are small and rounded, the eyes located dorsally, the neck is robust and short, not differentiating in diameter from the head. The body is covered with coarse hair that is reddish brown to grayish, and lighter yellow-brown in the underparts. The capybara is the largest living rodent, with a pig-sized pregnant female reaching 176.4 lb (80 kg) in weight; head and body length is 39.4–51.2 in (100–130 cm); shoulder height is up to 19.7 in (50 cm); and average weight is 139 lb (63 kg).

The muzzle is truncate with an enlarged upper lip and large nostrils. The forefeet have each four toes and the hind feet three, all armed with short but strong claws. Feet are partially webbed to allow swimming. The coarse pelage is so sparse that it allows one to see the animal's skin. Females have four pairs of ventral mammae.

Adult males can be identified by their black sebaceous gland, a scent gland, located on the top of the muzzle, which is used to mark with essence plants and other substrates in their territory. The tail is very short and vestigial.

As an herbivorous rodent, the teeth are distinctive; the incisor teeth are white and shallowly grooved. The third molar is longer than the other three molar teeth. The cheek teeth are modified and ever-growing.

Distribution

Capybaras occur in Panama, close to the Canal Zone, and on the east side of the Andes from Colombia, Venezuela, and the Guianas, throughout Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, to Uruguay and northeastern Argentina. The original distribution range is wide but some local populations have been eliminated by hunting or by drastic habitat modification.

Habitat

Capybaras inhabit areas along rivers and streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, and swamps. There are at least three habitat components important for capybaras: water, grass vegetation, and a patch of forest or woodland. At least three regions are well known to harbor conspicuous concentrations of capybara populations: the llanos in Venezuela, the pantanal, mostly in western Brazil, and the Taim lowlands, in southern Brazil.

Capybaras are also abundant in the Amazonian floodplain, comprising all the countries forming the biome, but particularly Marajó Island, located at the mouth of the Amazon river.

In the pantanal of western Brazil there exist vigorous populations of capybaras. Flooding is the most important element to characterize the habitats of the pantanal. When the land dries out, grasslands and scattered pools appear. The capybara densities in these grassland fields during the dry season reach spectacular numbers due to the provision of feeding and reproductive habitats. During the floods, the capybara groups subdivide and are largely confined to the woodland and forest patches.

Capybaras are able to take advantage of modified habitats to increase their populations. They rapidly colonize areas surrounding artificial lakes formed by dams. They also explore habitats that may offer food, even with some degree of pollution, such as the Tietê River in the city of São Paulo. Sometimes they cause damage to plantations of corn, rice, manioc, and legumes, and may be hunted for that reason.

Behavior

Capybaras are social animals, usually living in family groups composed adult males, adult females, and young. Mean group size is six animals, but they exhibit variation in size during the year. In the pantanal, for example, the group size increases from the beginning of the year (rainy season) to the middle of the year (dry season). Groups of eight to 12 animals are relatively common.

The group composition is usually formed by a dominant full adult male, one or two full adult submissive males, two to four or more adult females, and the others are subadults and young. The dominant male in the group exhibits aggressive and hostile behavior to keep the other males submissive. Females in the group also display a hierarchy. The social behavior reflects group sizes. They are docile, quiet, crepuscular animals but may show activities during the day, except for some rest periods in their shelters in the forest, during the hotter hours of the day.

Ranging behavior is variable. The home range occupied by a given social group averages 200 acres (80 ha), but may be much larger in some cases, depending on the season of the year. This home range contains foraging area, patch of woodland or forest where the group rests and reproduces, and water where the animals swim. Neighboring groups may share parts of their home ranges, but maintain some core areas within these home ranges that are for the exclusive use of the group. In flooded areas, groups have larger ranges and core areas during the dry season than during the rainy and flooding season, a change that is associated with the reduction of the feeding grassland habitat. During the dry season, larger groups are seeing feeding on the grassland seasonal fields. During the flooding season, the groups split into smaller groups, and disperse among the patches of the forest or woodland, using more of the water habitats of ponds or inundated areas.

Capybara groups in the wild have been observed displaying three different activities: foraging on grasses, sleeping or resting, and exhibiting social interactions. They display distinctive postures, movements, sounds, and activity patterns:

• Alert. The capybara remains immobile on its four feet or sitting, staying in whatever position it happens to be in at the time of the stimulus. The animal keeps its head raised, looking in one direction, with the ears erect. If an intruder continues to approach, the capybara barks like a dog, jumping into the water or running away.
• Grazing. The capybara grazes, moving slowly while foraging, sometimes raising its head to check its surroundings.
• Lying. Usually the animal lies down with its head erect while resting.
• Sleeping. The animal sleeps intermittently during the daylight hours and evening in wooded areas.
• Sitting. This is also a resting posture, common on the river banks.
• Swimming. Capybaras are good swimmers and divers.
• Intimidating. One dominant male or female circles an intruder or submissive capybara in order to impose its dominance or to ward off an approach.
• Fighting. Two animals in an upright position embrace each other and engage in a fight or a male and female exhibit courtship.
• Contacting. During the encounter between two animals one may actively initiate contact, either sexual or antagonistic. The male may inspect the sexual receptivity of a female by nasal-genital contact.
• Mounting. The female swims back and forth in the water, pursued by the male, and when she displays a receptive position, the male mounts.
• Maternal care. Involves nursing with a mother and her young.

• Marking. The male rubs his snout gland up and down a stalk, or the animal straddles a stalk in order to rub it with its anal scent gland.

Male to male aggressive interaction is the most common display seen in the field. Subadults of either sex are always subordinate to adults of either sex. The dominant male of the group initiates the attack. Some subadults suffering attacks are excluded from the group and become satellite animals. These animals suffer stress and are subject to being weak, sick, and killed by predators.

The males compete more strongly for access to breeding partners than do females; a female's reproductive success depends on her ability to acquire food. The females spend a great deal of their time caring for young of different ages, who move from one female to another. The females suckle young in a crèche-behavior fashion.

Feeding ecology and diet

Capybaras invest a great deal of their time in feeding behavior. In Brazil, the states of Minas Gerais and Goiás are separated by a river. People living in two small villages, of the river, are rivals. The villagers on the Minas Gerais border, where there are grassland fields, say that Goiás is so bad that capybaras prefer to feed on their side. The villagers in Goiás claim that Minas Gerais may have some good food but Goiás is a nicer place to live, since the capybaras cross the river to sleep there.

Apart from the beliefs of human rivals, capybara ranging behavior is based on a daily need for food and shelter. The Portuguese priest José de Anchieta, traveling through Brazil in 1560, wrote about the animals named by indigenous people as "capivaras," which means "herb feeders." Another Portuguese explorer, Fernão Cardim, wrote in 1584, about the "water pigs" known as capivaras that eat herbs and fruits found along the rivers.

Capybaras are very selective in food items they prefer. The diet composition varies from the dry season, when more pasture is available, to the flooding season, when they can feed upon floating plants. Preferred food items, such as protein rich grasses, tend to be more seasonal than poorer food items. During the dry season, natural pasture in lower areas is abundant and is preferred by capybaras. Capybaras may re-ingest their own fresh feces (coprophagy) in order to maximize the absorption of nutrients.

Young are precocious, travel on the back of their parents when they swim, forage on grasses with few days of age, and suckle their mother or other lactating female in their social group.

Reproductive biology

Depending on the quality of the habitat, capybaras breed throughout the year, presenting a peak of reproduction when more feeding grounds are available. Copulation usually occurs in the water. The forest and woodland provide shelter from midday heat and a resting place, as well as a birth place. The gestation period is about 147 days and it is possible that this length may be influenced by environmental and social variables. Litter size is one to seven, averaging 3.5 neonates, each weighing about 3 lb (1,400 g). Lactation period is about 10 weeks. However, at certain times of year, it is possible to observe a female with 10 or more young of different ages and sizes. It is believed that the group of young are relatives, and one lactating female takes turns caring her own young and those of her sister or relative. The sex ratio for the population in the field averages one male to three females. At birth, the sex ratio averages one male to one female, but due to the social structure, this relation changes. As soon as the subadults begin to attain sexual maturity, some are excluded from the group, mainly males, by the dominant males. These excluded subadults become satellite or solitary individuals. Under stress, these animals are susceptible to diseases.

Before capybaras die, their bodily appearance declines visibly. A sick individual is often isolated from the group. In addition, capybaras are preferred prey for jaguars and young are captured by anacondas and other predators.

Conservation status

Capybaras are common animals distributed over a wide range. Thus, they are not considered threatened, although in many places they, have been extirpated due to human influence, mainly hunting. They are very tolerant of habitat modification and, when that change benefits the offering of food and reproduction niches, the population increases, if they are not otherwise disturbed.

Significance to humans

The first Portuguese explorers traveling through Brazil in the sixteenth century reported that they learned from the local indigenous people that capybara meat was consumed and considered beef or sometimes fish. In fact, in the llanos of Venezuela, people eat capybara meat during Lent, in place of fish, as a religious and cultural tradition. Throughout the Amazon basin, capybara is consumed by local people as a real meat, since people living along the rivers consume fish daily and sometimes appreciate a different kind of meat.

There is a growing interest in the management of capybaras to commercially exploit their meat and skin (the leather is valuable). In some countries such as Venezuela and Brazil two options for exploitation were identified: management in natural areas and raising or farming in enclosures.

In wild populations of higher densities in good habitats, such as the llanos of Venezuela, it is possible to establish a harvest quota, based on the fact that part of the population would disappear due to disease and predation. Harvest quotas could be increased through the implementation of programs to control mortality caused by diseases. The predation in ranches is low and the capybara population can increase in number. The construction of ponds and the offer of food can also increase population levels for management and sustainable use.

There are some authorized farming structures to raise capybaras in Brazil. However, the final cost of the meat is still higher than the traditional beef.

Some health researchers, working with free ranging capybaras that reached the plazas in the city of Campinas, Brazil, by traveling through small creeks, discovered that the animals can pose a potential threat to humans. The ectoparasites they carry with them into the city, mainly ticks, could potentially transmit bacterial or viral diseases to humans.

Resources

Alho, C. J. R., Z. M. Campos, and H. C. Gonçalves. "Ecology, Social Behavior and Management of the Capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris) in the Pantanal of Brazil." In Advances in Neotropical Mammalogy, edited by K. H. Redford and J. F. Eisenberg. Gainesville, FL: Sandhill Crane Press, 1989.

E. Herrera. "Reproductive Strategies of Female Capybaras: Dry-season Gestation." In The Behaviour and Ecology of Riparian Mammals, edited by N. Dunstone and M. L. Gorman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

MacPhee, R. D. E., S. Ronald, and D. Michael. "Late Cenozoic Land Mammals from Grenada, Lesser Antilles Island-Arc." American Museum Novitates 2000, no. 3302 (2000): 1–20.

Moreira, J. R., D. W. Macdonald, and J. R. Clarke. "Alguns Aspectos Comportamentais da Reprodução da Capivara." Revista Brasileira de Reprodução Animal 25, no. 2 (2001): 120–122.

Rowe, D., and R. Honeycutt. "Ecological Correlates, Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetic Relationships within the Rodent Superfamily Cavioidea." Molecular Biology and Evolution 19, no. 3 (2002): 263–277.

Thomas, Z., U. Jakob, F. Alfred, and K. Richard. "On the Occurrence of the Capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1776) in the Dry Chaco of Paraguay (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hydrochoeridae)" Faunistische Abhandlungen Dresden 22, no. 2 (2002): 423–429.

[Article by: Cleber J. R. Alho, PhD]

The capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochoeris) is the largest of all living rodents. Also called the water hog, water pig, water cary, or carpincho, it looks like a huge guinea pig. Its body length can be 3.25 to 4.5 feet (one to 1.3 meters), and it usually weighs between 120 and 130 pounds (54 to 59 kilograms) or more. A native of northern South America, this rodent leads a semi-aquatic life, feeding on aquatic plants and grasses. A subspecies, native to Panama, is smaller and weighs between 60 and 75 pounds (27 to 34 kilograms).

The largest rodent, the size of a small pig, 100 lb and 3 ft tall. It is largely aquatic and easily domesticated. Called also carpincho, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris.

Capybara[1]
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Suborder:	Hystricomorpha
Family:	Caviidae
Subfamily:	Hydrochoerinae
Genus:	Hydrochoerus Brisson, 1762
Species:	H. hydrochaeris
Binomial name
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766)
Ranges of capybara (green) and lesser capybara (red)

The capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris ^[1][3][4]), also known as capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish,^[5][6][7] and capivara in Portuguese^[6], is the largest living rodent in the world.^[8] Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs.^[9] Its common name, derived from Kapiÿva in the Guarani language,^[6] means "master of the grasses"^[10] while its scientific name, hydrochaeris, is Greek for "water hog".^[9]

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 centimetres (4.3 ft) in length, and weigh up to 65 kg (140 lb).^[11][12][13] The top recorded weight is 105.4 kg (232 lbs).^[14] Capybaras have slightly webbed feet, no tail,^[15] and 20 teeth.^[16] 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.^[15] Females are slightly heavier than males.^[9]

Contents 1 Fossil record and other species 2 Development 3 Habitat 4 Diet 5 Behavior 6 Predators 7 Conservation 8 Human interaction 9 References

Fossil record and other species

Life restoration of the extinct Protohydrochoerus

Though now extinct, there once existed a larger capybara called Neochoerus pinckneyi. Other fossil caviomorphs that were eight times the size of modern capybaras have been called "capybaras" by the popular press, but were actually dinomyids related to the pacarana.^[15][16] There is also a "lesser capybara", Hydrochoerus isthmius.^[3]

Development

Capybaras reach sexual maturity within 22 months^[15] and breed when conditions are perfect, which can be once per year (such as in Brazil) or throughout the year (such as in Venezuela and Colombia). The male pursues a female and mounts when the female stops in water. Capybara gestation is 130–150 days and usually produces a litter of four capybara babies, but may produce between two and eight in a single litter.^[12] Birth is on land and the female will rejoin the group within a few hours of delivering the newborn capybaras, who will join the group as soon as they are mobile. Within a week the young can eat grass, but will continue to suckle - from any female in the group - until weaned at about 16 weeks. Youngsters will form a group within the main group.^[10][15] The rainy season of April and May mark the peak breeding season.^[6] Like other rodents, the front teeth of capybaras grow continually to compensate for the constant wearing-down from eating grasses;^[10] their cheek teeth also grow continuously.^[8] When fully grown, a capybara will have coarse hair that is sparsely spread over their skin, making the capybara prone to sunburn. To prevent this, they may roll in mud to protect their skin from the sun.^[16]

Capybara have an extremely efficient digestive system that sustains the animal while 75% of its diet encompasses only 3-6 species of plants.^[17]

Habitat

Capybara are semi-aquatic mammals^[13] found wild in much of South America (including Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, Uruguay, Peru, and Paraguay^[10]) in densely forested areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds and marshes,^[11] as well as flooded savannah and along rivers in tropical forest.^[15] They roam in home ranges of 25–50 acres (10–20 ha).^[16] Many escapees from captivity can also be found in similar watery habitats around the world. Though it has been erroneously stated that a population of capybara existed in the River Arno in Florence, Italy, this was determined to be the nutria or coypu, (Myocastor coypus) a considerably smaller South American aquatic rodent with a similar appearance.

Diet

Capybara is an herbivore, grazing mainly on grasses and aquatic plants,^[5][11] as well as fruit and tree bark.^[13] An adult capybara will eat 6 to 8 pounds (2.7 to 3.6 kg) of grasses per day.^[16] Capybara's jaw hinge is non-perpendicular and they thus chew food by grinding back and forth rather than side-to-side.^[8]

Capybaras are coprophagous, meaning they eat their own faeces as a source of bacterial gut flora and in order to help digest the cellulose in the grass that forms their normal diet and extract the maximum protein from their food. Additionally, they may regurgitate food to masticate the food again, similar to cud-chewing by a cow.^[17]

Behavior

Capybara lounging in a shallow pool in captivity

Capybaras are social animals, usually found in groups, between 10 and 30 (though larger groups of up to 100 sometimes can be formed),^[15] controlled by a dominant male^[11] (who will have a prominent scent gland on his nose^[15] used for smearing his scent on the grasses in his territory.)^[10] They communicate through a combination of scent and sound, being very vocal animals with purrs and alarm barks,^[15] whistles and clicks, squeals and grunts.^[10]

Capybaras are excellent swimmers and can survive completely underwater for up to five minutes,^[11] an ability they will use to evade predators.^{[citation needed]} If necessary, a Capybara can sleep underwater, keeping its nose just at the waterline.^{[citation needed]}

During midday, as temperatures increase, Capybaras wallow in water to keep cool and then graze in late afternoons and early evenings. They sleep little, usually dozing off and on throughout the day and grazing into and through the night.^[15]

Predators

Exhibit: anaconda swallowing a capybara

They have a lifespan of 4–8 years in the wild^{[citation needed]} but average a life less than four years as they are "a favourite food of jaguar, puma, ocelot, eagle and caiman".^[10] The capybara is the preferred prey of the anaconda, the heaviest snake on Earth, which can reach a length of 7.5 metres.

Conservation

Capybara are not on the IUCN list^[9] and therefore not considered a threatened species; their population is stable through most of their South American ranges, though in some areas hunting has reduced their numbers.^[10][11]

Capybaras are hunted for their meat and pelts in some areas,^[7] and otherwise killed by humans who see their grazing as competition for livestock. The skins are particularly prized for making fine gloves because of its unusual characteristic of stretching in just one direction.^[5][18] In some areas they are farmed, which has the effect of ensuring that the wetland habitats are protected. Their survival is aided by their ability to breed rapidly.^[10]

Capybaras can be found in many areas in zoos and parks,^{[8][11][13][19][20][21][22][23]} sometimes allowed to roam freely and may live for 12 years in captivity.^[10][15]

Human interaction

A group of capybaras at Hato La Fe in the Los Llanos region of Venezuela

Capybaras are gentle and will usually allow humans to pet and hand-feed them. Capybara skin is tough, and thus in some areas where capybaras are wild, they are hunted for meat and their skin, which is turned into a high-quality leather,^[10] while some ranchers hunt them for fear of the competition for grazing. The meat is said to look and taste like pork.^[6] The Capybara meat is dried and salted, then shredded and seasoned.^[24] Considered a delicacy, it is often served with rice and plantains.^[25][26]

During the Christian observation of Lent, capybara meat is especially popular as it is claimed that the Catholic church, in a special dispensation, classified the animal as a fish in the 16th century. (cf. Barnacle goose) There are differing accounts of how the dispensation arose. The most cited refers to a group of 16th Century missionaries who made a request which implied that the semi-aquatic capybara might be a "fish" and also hinted that there would be an issue with starvation if the animal weren't classified as suitable for Lent.^{[6][16][24][25]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Charles A. Woods and C. William Kilpatrick (2005-11-16). Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds). ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd edition ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=13400218. 
2. ^ Queirolo, D., Vieira, E. & Reid, F. (2008). Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 5 January 2009.
3. ^ ^{a b} Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (capybara). University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved on December 16, 2007.
4. ^ Darwin, Charles R. (1839), Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. Journal and remarks. 1832-1836., London: Henry Colburn, pp. 619 
   In page 57, Darwin says "The largest gnawing animal in the world, the Hydrochærus Capybara (the water-hog), is here also common."
   See it also in The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
5. ^ ^{a b c} (Spanish) J Forero-Montana, J Betancur, J Cavelier. "Dieta del capibara Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris (cavia: Hydrochaeridae) en Caño Limón, Arauca, Colombia", Rev. biol. trop, Jun. 2003, vol.51, no.2, pp. 571–578. ISSN 0034-7744. PDF available (English translation)
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Capybara Natural History. JunglePhotos.com. Retrieved on December 16, 2007.
7. ^ ^{a b} "Trip to South America gives new meaning to outdoors life" from inRich.com (Link last retrieved/verified 17 January 2008)
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Capybara. San Francisco Zoo. Retrieved on December 17, 2007.
9. ^ ^{a b c d} Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). Chester Zoo (UK). Retrieved on December 17, 2007
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Capybara. Bristol Zoo Gardens (UK). Retrieved on December 16, 2007.
11. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Capybara Facts. Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Retrieved on December 16, 2007.
12. ^ ^{a b} The Encyclopædia Britannica (1910) Capybara (from Google Books)
13. ^ ^{a b c d} Capybara. Palm Beach Zoo. Retrieved on December 17, 2007.
14. ^ http://www.waza.org/virtualzoo/factsheet.php?id=110-020-001-001&view=Rodents%20and%20Hares&main=virtualzoo
15. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Capybara. British Broadcasting Corp.: Science and Nature: Animals. Retrieved on December 16, 2007.
16. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Capybara fact sheet
17. ^ ^{a b} Capybara Foraging and Feeding Behavior
18. ^ Smith, N. J. H. (1981). "Caimans capybaras otters manatees and man in amazonia." Biological Conservation 19(3): 177-187.
19. ^ Jerusalem Biblical Zoo - Capybara
20. ^ Saint Louis Zoo, Capybara
21. ^ Philadelphia Zoo, Overview & Mission
22. ^ San Diego Zoo
23. ^ Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Capybara
24. ^ ^{a b} Lipske, Michael. The Ranchers' Favorite Rodent. National Wildlife Federation (Feb/Mar 2006, vol. 44 no. 2)
25. ^ ^{a b} Ellsworth, Brian. "In Days Before Easter, Venezuelans Tuck Into Rodent-Related Delicacy". New York Sun(March 24, 2005)
26. ^ Romero, Simon (March 21, 2007), "In Venezuela, Rodents Can Be a Delicacy", The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/world/americas/21rodent.html, retrieved 2008-03-18 

v • d • e Extant species of family Caviidae (Cavies) Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Chordata · Class: Mammalia · Order: Rodentia · Suborder: Hystricomorpha Caviinae Galea (Yellow-toothed cavies) Yellow-toothed Cavy (Galea flavidens) · Common Yellow-toothed Cavy (Galea musteloides) · Spix's Yellow-toothed Cavy (Galea spixii) · Muenster Yellow-toothed Cavy (Galea monasteriensis) Microcavia (Mountain cavies) Southern Mountain Cavy (Microcavia australis) · Andean Mountain Cavy (Microcavia niata) · Shipton's Mountain Cavy (Microcavia shiptoni) Cavia (Guinea pigs) Brazilian Guinea Pig (Cavia aperea) · Shiny Guinea Pig (Cavia fulgida) · Santa Catarina´s Guinea Pig (Cavia intermedia) · Greater Guinea Pig (Cavia magna) · Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) · Montane Guinea Pig (Cavia tschudii) Dolichotinae Dolichotis (Maras) Patagonian Mara (Dolichotis patagonum) · Chacoan Mara (Dolichotis salinicola) Hydrochaerinae Hydrochoerus Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) · Lesser Capybara (Hydrochoerus isthmius) Kerodon (Rock cavies) Rock Cavy (Kerodon rupestris) · Acrobatic cavy (Kerodon acrobata) Category

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