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Monday, January 19, 2015

Weird News: Capivara in Colatina

This guy was 40kg (88lbs)
In the past two months, there have been two instances of this strange animal, a capivara, showing up in the city of Colatina!  My research indicates the capivara is indigenous to Brazil, but usually lives in wooded areas.  These rodents look like giant guinea pigs and are very social animals, living in packs with as many as 100 others!!!  Can you imagine stumbling upon 100 of these things all just hanging out?!?

The big guy pictured above was discovered in the patio of a school [story in Portuguese here].  He was captured and released back into the wild.

The second capivara sighted in Colatina in recent weeks was not so lucky.  The animal was found dead in the middle of the road.  I'm not sure how big it was, but based on the video here it was a pretty hefty fella.  The video is in Portuguese, but basically, residents who live near where the animal was found were concerned because no one from the city came to collect the animal for an entire day.  They were nervous about the potential for the spread of disease.  Hmmm.  Interesting, because it looks like several people were still hanging out right next to the carcass!

I find these animals totally creepy and I just hope none of them wander into our neighborhood!  Did any of you realize that the capivara was a thing?
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6 comments:

  1. MamaJanuary 19, 2015 at 4:02 AM

    Johnny knew it!!!! Right away when I mentiined the name he said, "yeah that's the world's biggest rodent!" He said they were hunted to near extinction (one look at this picture and I know why) bu he thinks they're protected now. All I can say is I'll be more than fine if I don't see one when we're there.. let alone a pack of one hundred!

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    1. LorinJanuary 19, 2015 at 4:26 AM

      Extra tidbit: people actually eat them, but they are also hunted for the grease in their fatty skin which is used in the pharmaceutical trade...

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  2. MamaJanuary 19, 2015 at 8:02 AM

    Barfing here :-O

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  3. UnknownJanuary 19, 2015 at 8:12 AM

    This comment maybe a repetition :-( I don't see my last entry . These are pretty interesting posts that Aldino puts on his Facebook . I always wondered the differences of Brazil and the U.S.A . Most of the people I got to know moved back to Brazil . My parents visited there Thanksgiving vacation

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  4. UnknownJanuary 19, 2015 at 8:13 AM

    My name is Sotero . Its seems like I can only comment on your blog through my Gmail

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  5. Kristine JenkinsJanuary 23, 2015 at 5:57 AM

    I think they have these at.....York Animal Kingdom!!! ( see the very inconveniently not-alphabetized list here: http://www.yorkswildkingdom.com/animals-at-our-zoo ) So - I HAVE seen these and I was pretty creeped out by them at the time - aren't they the world's largest rodents? Nothing against rodents and all....but...

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