AnimalvsAnimal
Capybara walking with Pink Ipê trees in the background in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas, Brazil🐹

Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesRodentiaCaviidae
Mammals

🐹Capybara

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766)

Kapybara eller vattensvin (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) är världens största gnagare. Den påminner i sitt levnadssätt om flodhästar men är närmare släkt med marsvin. Fram till 1990-talet kategoriserades kapybaran som ensam art i släktet Hydrochoerus, som i sin tur placerades som ensamt släkte i familjen Hydrochaeridae. I nyare taxonomiska avhandlingar kategoriseras den norra populationen som den egna arten Hydrochoerus isthmius och de placeras istället i familjen marsvin (Caviidae). Kapybaran når en kroppslängd upp till 130 centimeter och en vikt upp till 61 kilogram. Arten förekommer i stora delar av Sydamerikas slättland samt i angränsande regioner av Centralamerika. Kapybaran jagas för köttets och skinnets skull men räknas inte som en hotad art. Dess närmaste släkting, utöver Hydrochoerus isthmius, är klippmarsvinet och de listas därför tillsammans som en underfamilj inom familjen marsvin (Caviidae).

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
193
Photos
6
Measurements
14
vs you
≈ half your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2016.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
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
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Capybara

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
52 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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 length
1.25 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height
0.57 m0.5–0.62 m · typical rangeat withers
Details ↓

"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 mass
67 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
15 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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 length
5.56 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
1.6 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
151 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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 size
about 3
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

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 level
Herbivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Diurnal
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
0.07 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
7.01 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
52 Laverage
Details ↓

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.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderRodentia
  5. ›familyCaviidae
  6. ›genusHydrochoerus
  7. ›speciesHydrochoerus hydrochaeris
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderRodents · Rodentia
  3. familyHydrochaeridae
  4. genusHydrochoerus
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderEuarchontoglires
  11. orderRodents · Rodentia
  12. suborderHystricomorpha
  13. familyHydrochaeridae
  14. genusHydrochoerus
More

More about the Capybara

Closest relative on this site
🐭 Guinea pig — last shared an ancestor ≈ 17 million years ago.
Watch them together →
What it eats
leaves, roots and other plants90%
fruit10%
In other languages
kapibara wielka (pl), Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (es), vízidisznó (hu), Καπιμπάρα (el), Kapybara (sv), capibara (nl) … and 27 more languages
More photos
Capybara walking with Pink Ipê trees in the background in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas, BrazilCapybara by the river in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas, BrazilCapybara jumping in the river to escape a Jaguar in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas, Brazil
All 6 photos in the gallery →

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