You are looking at very large, highly sociable rodents.
There are just two capybara species; pictured is the more widespread, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, the greater capybara.
It is – handsomely – the world’s largest living rodent.
A “typical” adult weighs between 35 & 66 kilograms; females are bigger than males.
The heaviest-recorded wild capybara weighed 91 kilograms!
An adult’s body length usually exceeds 1 metre.
These very adaptable herbivores inhabit every South American nation, bar Chile.
They thrive in both grassland & forest, & quite happily share habitat with humans & their livestock.
Capybaras mate and give birth only in water, so convenient access to a river, lake or wetland is a “must”.
This post’s sequel will follow the example set by this one’s capybaras….i.e. its photo will pay attention to the “far” side of the pictured wetland.
I took this & the next chapter’s photos on the first day of March this year, a few hours after (& not many kilometres distant from) our encounter with a giant anteater.
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