Capybara Demographic Traits

Moreira, José Roberto; Wiederhecker, Helga C.; Ferraz, Kátia Maria Paschoaletto Micchi de Barros; Aldana-Domínguez, Juanita; Verdade, Luciano Martins; Macdonald, David W.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-4000-0_8

Cited by 6 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…Our samples of adult capybaras were characterized by a predominance of females over males, in either HMLs or NLs. This condition is in agreement with the typical social structure of capybara groups [ 3 ]. Anyhow, our analyses considered females and males together because our preliminary analyses did not show any significant differences between males and females within the same experimental group (HML or NL).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Only adult animals weighing > 35.0 kg [ 3 ] were measured. Young animals were not sampled because, at each stage of growth and development, the proportional or absolute amount of energy reserves can be expected to change with normal growth processes, even in an ideal environment [ 23 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is native to South America, where it occurs in all countries except for Chile [ 1 ]. In Brazil, capybaras are widely distributed all over the country, except for its very scarce presence in the semiarid biome, the Caatinga [ 2 , 3 ]. Capybaras are robust, semi-aquatic animals, considered the largest extant rodent in the world, with adults reaching on average between 50 kg and 60 kg and at most 1.35 m in length [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Capybaras live in social groups always with more females than males because when male capybaras reach sexual maturity they are expelled from the group by the dominant adult male [ 3 ]. The groups live close to water collections—rivers, lakes, flooded regions—because their sweat glands are not well developed [ 4 ]; therefore, they need water bodies to regulate body temperature (homeothermy).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Morphometric Patterns and Blood Biochemistry of Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) from Human-Modified Landscapes and Natural Landscapes in Brazil

Benatti

Luz

Lima

et al. 2021

Veterinary Sciences

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The capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, is the largest extant rodent of the world. To better understand the correlation between size and body mass, and biochemical parameters of capybaras from areas with different degrees of anthropization (i.e., different food supplies), we sampled free-ranging capybaras from areas of natural landscapes (NLs) and human-modified landscapes (HMLs) in Brazil. Analyses of biometrical and biochemical parameters of capybaras showed that animals from HMLs were heavier (higher body mass) than those from NL, a condition possibly related to fat deposit rather than body length, as indicated by Body Condition Index (BCI) analyses. Biochemical parameters indicated higher serum levels of albumin, creatine kinase, cholesterol, fructosamine and total protein among capybaras from HMLs than from NLs; however, when all adult capybaras were analyzed together only cholesterol and triglycerides were positively correlated with body mass. We propose that the biochemical profile differences between HMLs and NLs are related to the obesity condition of capybaras among HMLs. Considering that heavier animals might live longer and reproduce more often, our results could have important implications in the population dynamics of capybaras among HMLs, where this rodent species is frequently represented by overgrowth populations that generate several levels of conflicts with human beings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Morphometric Patterns and Blood Biochemistry of Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) from Human-Modified Landscapes and Natural Landscapes in Brazil

Benatti

Luz

Lima

et al. 2021

Veterinary Sciences

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“…For vultures, Lynch and Rimoli () listed black and king vultures ( Coragyps atratus and Sarcoramphus papa , respectively) as predators of yearling capuchins, while Dawson () gave turkey vultures ( Cathartes aura ) as a potential predator of infant tamarins. The latter species is known to predate new‐born capybara, Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris (Yáber & Herrera, ): At 1.5 kg (Moreira et al., ), these weigh as much as many infant and juvenile Neotropical primates and many adult callitrichids (Ford, ). Hence, a small gray area may exist between predators and pseudopredators for some primate populations, and primate reactions to birds may reflect this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honest error, precaution or alertness advertisement? Reactions to vertebrate pseudopredators in red‐nosed cuxiús (Chiropotes albinasus),a high‐canopy neotropical primate

et al. 2018

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Predation on primates is considered to have far‐reaching effects on the foraging and social ecology of a species. Primate species display a variety of responses to predator proximity and attack, ranging from active physical defense and mobbing, to flight and concealment. Warning calls are often given, and potentially threatening animals may be tracked, either actively or with head movements. Such behaviors take time that could be used for other activities. Accordingly, there should be strong selection to respond only to those species that represent a genuine threat. However, primates give defense‐based behaviors to non‐predator species. We tested the hypotheses that responses to pseudopredators are (i) precautionary calls made by individuals following the Dinner/Life Principle, or (ii) represent the ontogeny of species recognition. Of the species that ellicted a response from the cuxiús, 80% resembled a primate predator; 95% of the encounters that elicited a response from the cuxiús occurred when the distance between the pseudopredator and cuxiús was ≤20 m. In regard to the frequency of responses to pseudopredators, we found no difference between adults and juveniles (47.6% and 52.4%, respectively) and no differences between adult males and adult females (60% and 40% of the responses, respectively). However, reactions to pseudopredators were of shorter duration (truexfalse¯ ± standard error (SE): 42.2 ± 15.9 s) than were reactions to actual predator species (truexfalse¯ ± SE: 1,024.3 ± 329.1 s). There were only three instances where alarm calls were made to species that did not resemble predators, and 66.7% (N = 2) were made by adult cuxiús and only 33.3% (N = 1) were made by a juvenile cuxiú. Therefore, we found partial support for the Dinner/Life Principle hypothesis, but no support for the ontogeny hypothesis. Examination of such responses to pseudopredators in other primate and non‐primate species may help understand the evolution of such behaviors.

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Advances, challenges and prospective of sustainable use of capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in Colombia

López-Arévalo,

Mesa,

Montenegro

et al. 2023

Animal Frontiers

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Capybara Demographic Traits

Cited by 6 publications

References 27 publications

Morphometric Patterns and Blood Biochemistry of Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) from Human-Modified Landscapes and Natural Landscapes in Brazil

Morphometric Patterns and Blood Biochemistry of Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) from Human-Modified Landscapes and Natural Landscapes in Brazil

Honest error, precaution or alertness advertisement? Reactions to vertebrate pseudopredators in red‐nosed cuxiús (Chiropotes albinasus),a high‐canopy neotropical primate

Advances, challenges and prospective of sustainable use of capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in Colombia

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