aww @lemmy.world Jaxia @toast.ooo 1y ago

I got to pet a Capybara yesterday!!!

It was awesome! One even rolled over on its side to get belly rubs. Definitely would recommend for any animal lovers. :)

https://www.gatorland.com/animals/meet-a-capybara/

Link for anyone interested.

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Not my pic, but this is in my city, Curitiba:

I used to visit that specific park (Parque Barigüi) fairly often, as I worked nearby. For me the fun part wasn't even interacting with the capybaras, but watching tourists interacting with them. Not recommended - unlike the ones in the OP, these here are wild and might have ticks, but... well, neither tourists nor capybaras give a fuck.

Just make sure that you don't go full "squeee" and chase them, they'll simply get into the water and you'll be sad. A girl whom I used to date did this.
- I would risk a tick to hug a capybara
  
  It's actually quite risky. Some people died last month in Brazil because of the disease that's is transmitted by these ticks (Rocky Mountain spotted fever if I got it right from google, febre maculosa in Portuguese).
- My goodness this is adorable lol
Nice! I got to eat one of those once when staying with a native family in the Bolivian Amazon. It was quite nice.
- Haha! That's what my husband kept talking about when we saw them. In Peru they eat Cuy which is guinea pig. I have never tried it, nor do I really want to but my husband is ready and willing to eat any exotic animal...
- Wtf
  
  They eat guinea pigs too. Roast them on a spit.
  
  Yeah I mean they just eat off the land, which for them involves hunting the Amazon. They had monkey too, which I politely skipped.
- I never ate capybara meat, what people often mention about it is that it's strong-tasting and grassy. Plus in my city it feels like as much of a sacrilege as hurting the Paraná pines or the azure jays. Like, I think that you'd get an easier time murdering people than those three.
  
  Not in the jungle around rurrenabaque, apparently
Adorable! I’d love a domesticated one. I’d imagine they give great cuddles
- Too bad domestication takes generations. 😭 My buddy loves capybaras so much he has a tattoo of one.
  
  Do you know if people have made a start?
Are they soft? Do they make cute noises? Would love to pet one if I could. Looks like this guy really liked the attention.
- They are actually bristly. Apparently they purr and make sounds similar to a guinea pig according to their handler, but the only noise we heard was the goose complaining that he wasn't getting fed. They loved being fed romaine lettuce and enjoyed chin scratches as well.
  
  They are essentially giant guinea pigs
  
  Guinea pigs can properly yell when they want to. If capybara are anything like them, I imagine that they are deafening.
They are so cute.. I've seen countless of videos on Instagram of these neat animals.. They seem so amazingly.
It's the best type of fish ever...
- The Pope agrees.
Ahhh yes, the crappy barbara. Best favorite animal.
I love seeing the Capys on the Urban Rescue Ranch channel on YouTube, there are 4 of them and they have an ASMR channel.
Aw, I went to a jungle hotel in Central America that had capybaras on the grounds... never got to see one. They had a sloth sanctuary though and I got to see one of those slow bois.

Sloth facts: Sloths only poop every three weeks. When they poop, a moth that lives on them deposits its eggs into the sloth poop, and that's how the eggs will hatch and the babies will go on to find their own sloth host!
If you're in the interior of BC, Canada, there's a "kangaroo park" where you can pet the capy's. Also Wallabies, Goats, rabbits and some other critters
Speak's brethren!

Vet: "Capybara Tick! Speak's not a dog. He's a rodent!"

The Tick: "Ooh!"

Vet: "But he's one of the world's largest."

Tick: "Oh, man! Way to go, Speak!"

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