🐹Capybara
The capybara or greater capybara is the largest living rodent, native to all countries in South America except Chile. It is a semiaquatic herbivore that inhabits savannas and dense forests, living near and in bodies of freshwater and feeding mainly on grasses and aquatic plants.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2016.
- Body mass
- 52 kg
- Body length
- 1.25 m
- Shoulder height
- 0.57 m
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 15 years
Everything we know about the Capybara
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass52 kgCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 55 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Body length1.25 mCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Shoulder height0.57 m0.5–0.62 m · typical rangeat withersDetails ↓Hide ↑
"height at withers, 566 (500 to 620, n = 92)" (mm) - mean and extremes for 92 Llanos animals; sex not stated. ADW gives a consistent "standing up to 0.6 meters at the shoulder".
Source: Mones & Ojasti 1986, Mammalian Species 264:1-7 (data of Ojasti 1973, Llanos population), https://doi.org/10.2307/3503784 · see citation
Brain mass67 gCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan15 yearsCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 15 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Generation length5.56 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Age at maturity1.6 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation151 daysCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 150 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Litter sizeabout 3COMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 4.8AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Trophic levelHerbivoreCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleDiurnalCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Home range0.07 km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Population density7.01 per km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l52 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Capybara yet: top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classMammalia
- ›orderRodentia
- ›familyCaviidae
- ›genusHydrochoerus
- ›speciesHydrochoerus hydrochaeris
- classMammals · Mammalia
- orderRodents · Rodentia
- familyHydrochaeridae
- genusHydrochoerus
All 14 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classMammals · Mammalia
- subclassTheria
- superorderEuarchontoglires
- orderRodents · Rodentia
- suborderHystricomorpha
- familyHydrochaeridae
- genusHydrochoerus
More about the Capybara
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