Wacky Wednesday: The Capybara February 22, 2012

Capybara Mum with Baby (http://www.google.com/imgres?q=capybara&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&authuser=0&biw=1366&bih=670&tbm=isch&tbnid=7jFmH_fa4CGe1M:&imgrefurl=http://true-wildlife.blogspot.com/2011/02/capybara.html&docid=hRpTbgfvsJRgDM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wvFNX3VitBc/TVqznx9X_YI/AAAAAAAAAuc/srwDIMNnCYE/s1600/capybara2.jpg&w=531&h=354&ei=9xhFT-K5DKr10gHimf2cBA&zoom=1)

Once called called “water pigs” or “Orinoco hogs” by the first European naturalists visiting South America, the capybara is neither a pig nor a fully aquatic animal. But this wacky Wednesday special is, indeed, LARGEST LIVING RODENT (110 lb or 50 kg). They are hydrochoerids with its nearest living relative being the cavies. All other hydrochoerids are extinct, but all of them were significantly larger than the capybara with the largest one weighing more than the largest North American grizzly bear (over 800 lb)! But what successful features of the capybara allowed it to survive? Could it be sexual or it’s “smaller” size?