Rodents of Unusual Size

South America has a plethora of rodent species which are indigenous to the continent. Sure, mice and rats are everywhere. But a lot of the rodent species you know, and possibly even love, such as hamster and guinea pigs, they originate in South America.

This may seem a bit disconnected, but hang with me. One of my favorite movies is The Princess Bride, and I know I am not alone in that in this world. Perhaps some of you who read this are fond of the movie and you are familiar with the three terrors of the Fire Swamp.

1. The Flame Spurt (but there's a popping sound before each. We can avoid that.)
2. The Lightning Sand (but you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.)
3. Rodents of Unusual Size (I don't think they exist.)

They do exist! They do exist! (And you can see, I got back on topic.)

I would call that an unusual size

Yesterday we encountered for the first time, capybaras. We walked to the same I park I mentioned in my previous post. We saw so many different species of birds. And a ladybug. Alrica pointed out the ladybug to me. But while we were standing on the boardwalk that goes out over the pond, Alrica saw in some trees something grazing. From the distance it looked like maybe warthogs. But warthogs are not native to South America. So we went closer to see what animal (turns out animals) it was.

How rude that I am taking pictures of their butts

Capybaras.

We saw the largest rodent in the world. On second thought, that's misleading. Capybaras are the rodent species which has grows to be the largest of any rodent species in the world. We saw members of that largest species, but there is no guarantee that any of the ones we saw were, in fact, the largest of their kind.

Go for it bird. You can walk on me.

All this precision aside, you would not believe how big capybaras are. Check out the picture with the capybara which had a bird on its back. That bird is about the size of a robin, so it gives you an idea of how large the rodents can be. Also, they don't seem to care at all if birds walk on them

Closer view of the bird on the rodent.

A capybara is bigger than a golden retriever. They have shorter legs, so they hang out closer to the ground. But they can grow to weigh a lot more than most dog breeds do. Alrica thinking she was seeing a warthog was a pretty good observation, because they are more similar in shape to a pig than to a dog.

Just chillin' roadside

They were eating leaves and grasses under some trees and right beside a gravel road. They weren't remotely bothered by our presence. They weren't remotely bothered when a motorcycle came by on the road, just fifteen feet from the nearest one.

Unlike Alrica and I, the locals didn't seem all that interested in the capybaras. I suppose it is all about what you get used to. If seeing capybaras is an everyday or every week experience, you don't think much of it anymore. I mean, when I see a squirrel, I don't stop, point, and say, "Oh my goodness! A squirrel!" (Apparently, I am not one of the dogs from the movie Up.) Squirrels are just common to my experience so they don't elicit much notice. Capybaras must be the same. I mean, for people who live here. Not for me. They elicited plenty of notice from me. And from Alrica, who has an equal dearth of previous capybara experience.

Unrelated to capybaras, but "real, relevant, salt" Doesn't one of these seem to not fit with the others?

It also made me realize that one of the great things about the way Alrica and I travel is that by staying for several weeks in a place, you have more chances to see things. I had been to that exact park twice before, and the capybaras had not been out and about. But having the leisure to visit multiple times meant I got to see them. The world has a lot of wonders in it, but they aren't all on display on a schedule. Sometimes you need right place, right time to see them.