The…… what!?!?
Happy Humpy, everyone! As usual on this fine midweek day, The Nest dusts off its virtual photo album of shittiness and brings you another highly irrelevant edition of Picture Day 
Wednesday. Today, we’re going to learn a little bit about one of the coolest exotic animals to ever fucking walk on Dog’s Green Earth…. the capybara!
Above you see what was my very first introduction to this strange beast, courtesy of the PNC Park scoreboard from one of the Pirates games I attended on my 2010 trip to the Steel City. They had this theme the second time through the Pirates batting order of introducing some strange fact about each player’s hometown… and when they got to shortstop Ronny Cedeno, the coolest thing they could find about Carabobo, Venezuela was that it was home to the capybara (exclamation point). WTF, I asked myself while paying zero attention to the game on the field, was a capybara?
Oh…. well, hello there, Mr. Capybara. Welcome to The Nest.
As you can read on that neat little critter trading card up there, the capybara is the world’s largest rodent… much bigger than the squirrels that used to be the cutest thing I posted on this blog. Those teeth jutting in all directions from that capybara maw don’t look very sharp, but would probably take off a human arm, or at least chew up any possum that stupidly strayed into its path. Capybaras are native to South America, which is why it was strange to see their home in my local zoo was in the African safari section of the park…
The artwork on the sign is still pretty cool, if geographically challenged.
Last Wednesday I accompanied my Mom and youngest sister on a trip to the zoo, and almost literally squeed in delight when I saw the capybara sign. Unfortunately, that drawing was the only capybara I saw that day…. as like a number of the other animals serving time in the public critter jail, it was nowhere to be seen within its “natural habitat” display. Oh well, at least the St. Louis Zoo is still one of the very few free zoos left in the country, so unless I wanted to see the very special Tasmanian devils or stick my hand in a shark’s mouth at the aquatic petting zoo (I’m NOT making that up), I didn’t have to pay a dime to be utterly disappointed.
At least I would pay to see a Tasmanian devil before I’d pay to see fucking Spongebob.
The clincher that got me to post about the capybara this week, though, was the curious coincidence of getting a double dose of the critter last Wednesday. Just 12 hours after seeing an empty capybara backyard, Jennifer from Squirrel Picnic shared a link to a funny dolphin talk page with me that itself contained a link to an even funner page about capybara bombs! It was too much of a coincidence, and I knew I had to do a capybara post as soon as possible. I even joked about creating a capybara character to add to my gang that randomly exploded like a Bob Omb…. could you imagine the fun he’d have with Buster?
Yeah, I can’t draw capybaras either… shocking.
I’ll return next Wednesday with something completely different that can’t possibly be as adorable as this family of capybaras…
OMG, are they old enough to adopt yet?
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
You know there’s an episode of The Big Bang Theory in which Sheldon babbles on about the capybara in an attempt to get his friends to stop talking about something that doesn’t interest him. Your discussion of this animal is much more interesting than Sheldon’s was. But I’m still not taken with the capybara, for some reason. I find them creepy.
I did not know that since I’ve never watched the show… but it’s good to see that the capybara is a good way to get people to shut up. Just show people that card with all the facts on it, and they won’t be able to say another word all night…
“Imagine a rat the size of a St. Bernard”…..hmm…..I find that mind-boggling and just a little scary but I have to admit, the baby-baras (!) are cute.
Pam
It is kinda hard to believe… though there may very well be rats that big in some of the New York sewers! And like possums, it’s always interesting to see how an animal that looks so odd can have babies that look so damn cute…
The New York sewers and maybe Chernobyl………… 😉
LOL, who knows what may have been growing there the past 30 years!
I’ve read about capybaras as pets… but I’m not sure if such a “maxi hamster” would be the perfect match with easy…. better a tasmanian devil :o)
LOL, throw a Taz into the mix and you’d never cease to have things to blog about in the Easy household!
I love capybaras and have seen them in zoos on worldwide travels. That photo is adorable although Mama looks a little like one of your made-up animals. We have a similar creature that lives in our ponds and waterways – the nutria. They are invasive but so CUTE!
I don’t think I;’d ever heard of a nutria before, but they do look quite cute if I do say so myself!
They are pretty darn cute! I have seen these at zoos… thanks for the share cher’ 😉
🙂
Aw, look at them trundling along there!
When I saw your title I was getting these guys mixed up with the chupacabra. Wouldn’t want to make that mistake out in the wild!
I’d heard the legend of the chupacabra before, and I think that’s what I originally though the capybara was the first time I heard the term… only I was pretty sure the chupacabra was not from South America. I’ll bet chupacabra kits don’t look as adorable as capybaralets, though!
They’re so cute! Although the look on that Mama’s face makes me think you wouldn’t want to come near her babies. The green information sign makes them look pretty scary too. I always assumed they were peaceful creatures but now I’m wondering if there are capybara attacks in South America. I’m going to have to look that up.
You’ve given me yet another critter to dream about! Rodents and other small animals seem to be all I dream about lately: a house full of begging rats with pleading puppy dog eyes, a squirrel that gives kisses like a dog only with less tongue, a forest full of squirrels of all different colors (even a tabby like Scooby) and last night I dreamed of hedgehogs and chinchillas peeking in my bedroom window and mangy bobcats and owls lurking around outside. It only makes sense that a capybara would show up next!
I’m not sure what Freud would say about rodents in dreams (though I have had a few searches for what squirrels mean in dream imagery!)… but a capybara would fit right in with most of those critters, and probably even scare off Freddy Krueger!
I’m pretty sure Freud would listen to a couple of my dreams and declare me bat shit crazy! I was a bit disappointed that no capybaras made an appearance in my dreams last night. Smarty had puppies though, which was exciting but kind of puzzling since he’s a neutered male.
My sister in law raised a bunch of them in her bathtub. She is a strange woman in many ways.
I’ll bet it wouldn’t take long for a capybara to outgrow the bathtub. And I certainly wouldn’t want to share a bath with one…
ody & biskit….frank lee, N we think we speek for ALL catz…..if we saw a rat az big aza st bernard we wood be like…..we R gettin de be jezuz outta heer ~~~~~~~~~ 🙂 ♥♥
I don’t blame you… I’ve only known one cat that might’ve had the guts to take on a capybara, and that was our lean, mean torty machine we had as a kid who we misnamed the innocent Fluffy. She left about everything but dead neighbors at our doorstep after her prowls about the hood…
I had no idea that capybara played such a major (minor) role in your life! You must have an explosive capybara in your clan… And someone who speaks dolphin (preferably a land dweller). Oh what dynamite fun!
I’ll have to run the phrase, “Capybara bomb! Run for cover!” through the English to Dolphin translator…
They are really interesting and REALLY cute. I want to adopt the whole family! I have to add though (I am not a tassie devil expert) BUTT they are definitely not a critter you would put anywhere near a child (or adult or any other animal really) They are biters and keen nippers.
I have a weird sense of humor because I laughed when I saw the sign. Tassie Devil near children? I like Mr Square Pants though, he and I go wayyyyy back! 😀
That’s our naive, American zookeepers for you. Kids love the cartoon Taz, and want to see what a real one looks like…. so they are a kids animal! So I could’ve paid to stick my hand in a shark’s mouth, or paid to have my nuts bitten off by a tassie! I’m glad I only took the free tour! 😉
A wise squirrel keeps his appendages out of harm’s way. ❤ Also Taz in the cartoon is a total maniac with Adhd who CHOMPS everything and everyone in his path with his disproportionately large teeth and jaws. There are some clues there. Duh! Just for the record I love and love tassie devils but from a respectful distance and with little kids up off the ground on my hip. LOL! ❤ ❤ ❤
Aw, the baby ones are so cute!!
Totally!