A couple of weeks ago, we got to meet capybaras.
I’m just going to pause for a moment to let that one sink in. If you know anything about me or, even better, you know anything about my wife, then you know that capybaras are a sort of platonic ideal animal for us. (Side note: I’ve found I am drawn more and more to gentle creatures: Snails, capybaras, sloths, turtles, etc. I’m not sure if this is a function of getting older or just refining my tastes as there are too many variables for me to be certain.) They’re beautiful, they’re peaceful, they get along with every other creature if the photos are to believes (except for jaguars, piranhas, and, of course, pelicans), and they’re good comrades.
Unlike in countries like, say, Japan, where capybaras are accorded the proper level of respect, our neck of the woods doesn’t offer many opportunities to do meet-and-greets with the noble carpincho. Nicole got a recording of Fred the capybara at the Dallas Zoo for my birthday. I dropped by to visit when I was in town, but alas, Fred is only available for his public on specific days. There’s a minor zoo nearby that has one capy, but…it’s not a great situation.
So, imagine my surprise when I “discovered” that the Austin Zoo not only had three capybaras but that they offered the opportunity to hand-feed them for half an hour. “Discovered” is in quotations marks on account of the fact that a friend called this to my attention three years ago and I completely forget. That is a very me thing to do. So, I scheduled a meetup on the first available weekend and marked the calendar.
Before I get into the event, I’d like to give huge kudos to the Austin Zoo, a place I never visited when I lived there. Not only was it a great experience, but I was glad to learn that they are a rescue zoo. The animals are, by and large, surrendered by people who can’t care for them and they aren’t bred in captivity. The goal is to give these animals the best possible life they can if they can’t be returned to the wild.
And no one can side-eye like a capybara.
So, enough stalling. What is it like to meet a capybara? Well, let’s start by saying that these three were semi-wild. They’re not nearly as comfortable around people as the ones at the Nagasaki Bio Park. They’re very skittish and cautious. But, when the zookeeper led us inside the cage with a big bucket of leaf lettuce, they wandered over from the sunning area by the pond. One slowly approached and, after no small amount of side-eyeing, took the lettuce from my hand.
But, before long, all three were literally eating out of our hands. Enthusiastically eating, to be more precise. Diego, Enrique, and Olivia all warmed to us and gave us their undivided attention. A word to the wise: Be careful reaching below their line of sight. I dropped a piece of lettuce and tried to pick it up and scared Diego a bit. He jumped slightly and had to re-evaluate the situation before coming back to continue with his lunch.
Now, while they are ever so gentle to other creatures, they can get a little feisty with each other. Olivia and Enrique had a little spat over a particularly delectable leaf and Oliva, the head of the group, would not brook any challenge to her choice of victuals.
Spoiler alert: They made up.
I should probably note at this point that I’ve never seen Nicole look so happy. I mean, can you blame her? So…what else? Their fur, which we were not allowed to touch, is rough like coconut and not nearly as pervasive as it looks. You can see their skin, which resembles fish scales, through almost any patch. Their teeth are too ludicrously large to be scary. They can move their lips independently like ungulates, which took a little getting used to. They came very close to us, close enough that our hands touched their noses when we were feeding them, but we were never in any danger of a bite.
Lauren, the zookeeper, said that there were two kinds of people who did the encounter. The kind who didn’t know anything at all about capys and the people who were obsessed with them. She sussed out which we were immediately but still hand plenty of good info on ‘em to share. She said that, normally, after eating, they vacated the area immediately. We were fortunate in that they chose to just plop down and start resting in a ring around us rather than going back to their sunny spot.
The best bit, though? They were so peaceful. They had peace in excess. The exuded peace. It was uncanny. I don’t think I’ve ever met a mood-altering animal before but I felt happy, energetic, and (this sounds so dorky) cleansed after meeting them.
So, if you’re interested in capybaras, this is an absolutely fabulous way to meet them. They’re extremely well cared for, they have a lot of space, their own ponds, trees, and folks who seem to genuinely care about them. I can’t recommend it highly enough, but that won’t stop me from trying.
-RK
P.S. When they were forming their ring around us and about to drop to the ground, we heard them chirping!
Oh. Em. Gee.
Diego is ready for his closeup. The gloves are as much to protect the animals as anything.