Capybaras, the world’s largest rodent, naturally live in vast grasslands, wetlands and rivers throughout South America. Their name literally means grass eater in the Tupi language, which is indigenous to Brazil and other regions in South America.
So scientists who study capybara diets were surprised when they found the animals seemed just as happy munching on leafy forest plants as the wavy grasses they’re used to. The new findings, which appear February 27 in the Journal of Zoology, suggest dietary flexibility has helped capybara populations balloon in cities and survive in farther-flung landscapes fragmented by roads, fields and other human-made changes over the past five decades or so.
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