Capybara

Capybara, also called carpincho or water hog, are among one of if not the largest natural living rodent and are semiaquatic mammal s.

Capybaras can be up to 4 feet long and 145 pounds or more. Capybaras are short-haired brownish rodents with blunt snouts, short legs, small ears, and almost no tail. They are shy and associate in groups along the banks of lakes and rivers. They normally feed in the morning and evening and spend most of the day resting under cover along the banks. They are vegetarian and in cultivated areas sometimes become pests by eating melons, grain, and squash. They swim and dive readily and commonly enter water to elude predators. Capybaras are edible and in places are ranched for meat. The female bears a single litter of three to eight young each year; gestation takes about 100 to 110 days.

Capybaras are herbivores, grazing mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, as well as fruit and tree bark. They are very selective feeders and feed on the leaves of one species and disregard other species surrounding it. They eat a greater variety of plants during the dry season, as fewer plants are available. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to more abundant reeds during the dry season. Plants that capybaras eat during the summer lose their nutritional value in the winter, so they are not consumed at that time. The capybara's jaw hinge is not perpendicular, so they chew food by grinding back-and-forth rather than side-to-side.

They can have a lifespan of 8–10 years, but live less than four years in the wild due to predation from jaguars, pumas, ocelots, eagles, and caimans. The capybara is also the preferred prey of anaconda.

The capybara inhabits savannas and dense forests and lives near bodies of water. It is a highly social species and can be found in groups as large as 100 individuals, but usually lives in groups of 10–20 individuals.