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Good giants
15 November 2021
News

The largest rodents in the world - capybaras or capybaras in Kharkiv Zoo also have large apartments of 636 m².  Previously, visitors could see three male capybaras in one of the exhibition enclosures in Gondwana, but this was temporary housing.  In the language of the Indians, "capybara" means "lord of the grasses" and from the outside it resembles a giant guinea pig.  The paws of the capybara are strong, with small membranes between the toes and mild thick claws.  An adult animal weighs about 60 kilograms and is more than a meter long.  In nature, capybaras live in the temperate and tropical regions of South America.  Their distribution is limited by the temperature regime and the presence of water, from which animals rarely move more than 500 - 1000 m.

Therefore, of course, in the new winter aviary there is a spacious pool, where they like to swim in warm water.  The capybara is a semi-aquatic animal that, in case of danger, hides in the water, diving or hiding among aquatic vegetation and exposing only its nostrils to the surface.  However, she prefers to rest on land.  Thanks to these features, these amazing animals can stay in the water for a long time.  Capybaras are fed with various plant foods.  They get vegetables, fruits, grains and fresh herbs.  Currently, a friendly company is successfully mastering its warm winter apartments, but in the future, in the summer, the capybaras will have a common spacious aviary together with other no less interesting representatives of the animal kingdom of the rhea and tapirs.