Why can't we all just get along? ... like Capybaras (warning: pic heavy for world peace)

[ashling]

Last edited Sun Aug 13, 2017, 05:38 PM - Edit history (1)

[Solly Mack]

1. I want to wallow about with Capybaras.

I want!

[LonePirate]

2. It's amazing how much other animals like them and how much they like other animals.

[Skittles]

3. I bet they feel like a TempurPedic mattress

[burrowowl]

4. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!

[WinstonSmith4740]

5. Those are great!

They appear to be the Golden Retrievers of (I'm guessing here) some giant rodent family. They love everybody, everybody loves them!

[SergeStorms]

9. Not everyone........

Capybaras are a favorite food for South American Caimans. They're a favorite food for Green Anacondas as well. Villagers all up and down the Amazon and it's tributaries, love a nice Capybara feast too.

So, you wouldn't really WANT to be a Capybara, even if in a zoo. It might be nice to have parasites picked off you by birds, but meeting a grizzly end in the stomach of any of their natural enemies wouldn't be so great. It's nature, it's not a Disney story where everyone lives happily ever after. It's nasty, gross, dangerous, bloody, and almost always not fair. But that's life just about anywhere for any species.

Sorry about being a downer on the nice Capybara story, but this is real life.

[ashling]

11. Thank you for your inspirational post

Yea Nature!

[3catwoman3]

14. Capybaras are classified as a fish...

...by the Catholic church. The rationale - they spend their lives in water. Their meat can be eaten of Fridays, by those who still observe that ancient ban.

Her is an excerpt from a Scientific American article -

So in the 17th century, the Bishop of Quebec approached his superiors in the Church and asked whether his flock would be permitted to eat beaver meat on Fridays during Lent, despite the fact that meat-eating was forbidden. Since the semi-aquatic rodent was a skilled swimmer, the Church declared that the beaver was a fish. Being a fish, beaver barbeques were permitted throughout Lent. Problem solved!

The Church, by the way, also classified another semi-aquatic rodent, the capybara, as a fish for dietary purposes. The critter, the largest rodent in the world, is commonly eaten during Lent in Venezuela. "It's delicious," one restaurant owner told the New York Sun in 2005. "I know it's a rat, but it tastes really good."

[OriginalGeek]

15. lol, religions always looking for loopholes

Having grown up in - and subsequently escaping - religion, I can't recall a one where the adherents didn't try to find ways around specific rules. Rodents is fish! Anal only? Still a virgin! Culottes aren't pants! Performing poodles don't jump through as many hoops as they do to justify doing what they think is wrong but they wanna do anyway.

[3catwoman3]

16. Finding loopholes is elevated to a fine art...

...religion. A number of my fiends, when I was a kid, were Catholic. I remember thinking it was weird that if an adult woman did not have either a hat or a veil, it was OK to cover her head with a crumpled old Kleenex but not OK to go in to church (oh, the horrors) bare headed.

One of the most egregious loopholes, IMO, is the whole annulment thing. What a bunch of BS.

[hunter]

19. The more eyes and ears looking out and listening for predators the better.

Especially from a species that doesn't see or hear the world the way you do.

[vicman]

6. At my parent's house in Missouri...

many years ago, there was a small colony of Capybaras. There are pockets of them that were abandoned as pets or maybe as show animals all across America. My mom called them gophers, but when I finally saw one looking out from under the backyard shed right at me, I immediately knew this was not a gopher. It took me a few years to figure out what it actually was (no internets then), but when you see an animal that large staring at you with that very unique and distinct face, it's hard to forget. Totally benign, but these had a fear of humans which was probably a good thing. Wish I had time to make friends with them, but not possible then. Amazing, resilient and adaptable creatures. I was thoroughly impressed that they were even able to figure out a way to survive there.

[SergeStorms]

10. Are you sure......

Last edited Mon Aug 7, 2017, 12:35 AM - Edit history (1)

they were Capybaras? I've never heard of Capybaras living in the wild in the U.S. but I sure don't know everything. Maybe there are. Down south Nutria are a far more common and get quite large too. Invasive species are a big problem in the U.S. It's not like they invaded, PEOPLE are the problem. They turn their "pets" loose when they get to big to handle. Then they decimate the native flora and fauna.

Boas
Pythons
Nutria
Gambian Rats
Monitor Lizards
Tegu Lizards
Fire Ants
Zebra Mussels
Snakehead Fish
Gobi Fish...........and the list goes on and on. Swine are invasive species brought by Spaniards hundreds of years ago. Now they've gone "hog wild" so to speak, and cause millions in damage every year.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. Yeah, I'm thinking they were nutria

Nutria are still a big rodent, 20 lbs or so, but capybaras are 4 or 5 times that or more. If it had a tail, it was a nutria.

[SergeStorms]

13. And large....

yellowish/orange upper front incisors. BIG upper front incisors! Strange looking animals. I didn't know what they were the first time I saw them. Then when I heard their name........Nutria....well, I was somewhat flummoxed. They certainly didn't look nutritious to me. Louisiana actually had a TV and radio campaign, for awhile, to get people to eat them. I guess they aren't too bad really, but Louisiana chefs can make ANYTHING taste good!

[vicman]

17. Possible...

but it didn't have the whiskers or the prominent incisors. After all these years, I'm still pretty darn sure what it was. I think a local family had some as pets and when the the parents died, the kids just let them loose. The creek behind my parent's house would have been perfect for them, so it sorta made sense.

[SergeStorms]

21. It could very well be.

People do the damnedest things without giving much thought to the consequences of their actions. Let's just hope THESE don't proliferate and start taking over large portions of our wetlands. That's ALL we need!

[vicman]

18. Huge, and when it walked away, no tail that I could see n/t

[guss]

7. Cool

They are like Land Manitees

[Doug the Dem]

8. But those are just Animals

Homo sapiens is way too smart for that!

[shenmue]

20. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[WinkyDink]

22. Now I want a capybara!