Capybara: more than a giant guinea-pig

by | Jan 8, 2017 | Site Content

 
                                

Capybara: more than a giant guinea-pig

 

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Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris photo © Dario Sanchez

 

The capybara is extreme in being the largest living rodent, but is even more extreme in its efficiency of food-processing. What is not generally realised is that the capybara chews with the largest ever-growing cheek-teeth of any living animal on Earth, and is the largest living animal that routinely recycles its own faeces to digest them a second time.
 
Robin and the Honey Badger, 8 January 2017
 

Photographs:
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris cheek teeth
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris cheek teeth
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris cheek teeth