Comments on: Life with a 100 lb rodent that sounds like a Geiger counter when it's happy

By: Quiet Noises

Quiet Noises — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@25 – Yes! Glad I’m not the only one who remembers that book!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I can haz Capybaras?

By: Enormo

Enormo — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Where do they crap?

By: Lobster

Lobster — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll call you Speak, ’cause that’s what you do. :O

By: Bill Albertson

Bill Albertson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wow, giant space hamsters do exist! Now all he needs is an overmuscled and very befuddled warrior sidekick in full plate and packing steel. The group of them could go off and stop undead elves from ending the world… oh, nevermind.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you want to be overwhelmed w/ cute, check out squirrel monkeys riding capybaras like ponies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1Vc1nyAQc

By: easy mo drew

easy mo drew — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitely pro Capybara

By: DenisVi

DenisVi — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m sorry, but this is not a rodent. This is a pokemon!

By: dculberson

dculberson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I stayed in a jungle lodge in Peru a few years ago and they had a capybara named Charlie that was really cute and sweet. He loves grapes and if you scratch him under the chin he makes the trilling happy sound.

By: dculberson

dculberson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a video of Charlie and his happy sounds when being pet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyzR8w2i7bM

By: Brad S.

Brad S. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Am I crazy, or were these mentioned on The Daily Show tonight??

By: Spikeles

Spikeles — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Buttercup: Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.’s?
Westley: Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.

By: endymion

endymion — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This truly needs video.

Here’s Caplin in all his glory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlUXsZNQojE

By: Bionicrat2

Bionicrat2 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I always found them more easily confused with coypus/nutrias .

By: Lauren O

Lauren O — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I hope there are other people here young enough to remember the episode of The Wild Thornberries where it was revealed mid-meal that they were eating capybara burgers. “It’s a large, amphibious rat!”

In completely unrelated news, I am moving to Texas in a couple days, and I have suddenly changed my mind about not wanting pets.

By: Justin Ried

Justin Ried — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Add a big, bushy tail and Caplin could go trick-or-treating as the world’s largest squirrel.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wanted one until I got to the open mouth picture. Ew.

By: jasonq

jasonq — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

How does one acquire a capybara as a pet, anyway? Not exactly the type of critter you can get at your local Petco…

By: Keir

Keir — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I first saw one in a kids’ story book when I was a kid, really grabbed me.

By: The Lizardman

The Lizardman — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The giant rat identification by some may come from it commonly be used in sideshow & carnival displays as a “giant rat” or “giant sewer rat” – capybaras have been used for such one-offs and blow-offs for decades if not more than a century now.

Video (not sideshow but very cute) with some of their vocalizations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfvScgWBq78

By: f sharp a sharp infinity

f sharp a sharp infinity — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

That image screams ‘O RLY?’

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Somewhere out there is a children’s book with words and music for ‘Capybaras eat juicy green plants’ by the great Ivor Cutler…

…and for people in the UK – Whipsanade zoo has a free wandering population of Capybaras.

By: nanuq

nanuq — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“He is confused with a variety of animals such as tapirs, wombats and peccaries.”

Still better than asking if he sucks goats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A Chiguiro!!!

By: kateisgreat

kateisgreat — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Only the Brits (past a certain age) will appreciate this – but my first introduction to the Capybara was thanks to Johnny Morris’ Animal Magic – a fantastic children’s programme where Morris does all the animal voices. The Capybara was very proud of being the biggest rodent in the world – genius!

By: FPF422

FPF422 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the wild, they are nearly extinct as they are so tasty…

By: neurolux

neurolux — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

According to Wikipedia they are of the least concern of going extinct.

I’d want to hug him, but I’d be afraid he’d gnaw my face off.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sorry to be a mood fucker here, but a capybara can be very dangerous since it carries a kind of tick that transmits a very serious disease called (In America at least) Rocky Mountain spotted fever. There used to be a lot of them here in the neighborhood (im from Brazil, by the way), but the city council took them all away due to this disease. They are lovely, though.

By: Tiki Wahine

Tiki Wahine — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

My two year old just walked over, and upon seeing the above photo, said ‘Beaver! Cute!’

It’s strange to me that someone could confuse these rodents with wombats, tapirs or peccaries.

By: sammich

sammich — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Kateisgreat @ 15 – mine too :)

I couldn’t find the capybara, but here’s Johnny with Delilah the gorilla