In search of food capybaras are selected on land, where they find hay, grass, tubers. Also in the food are plants that animals find in the water. And the cappuccinos eat their own excrement. Some people may consider this fact disgusting. But in nature there is nothing meaningless.
Digestion is a very complex and energy-intensive system, especially when it comes to heavy plant foods. Ruminants have got a stomach consisting of three or four chambers for this purpose. For capybara and some other animals, rabbit, for example, nature provided for cecotrophy, that is, repeated digestion of one initially difficult for the assimilation of fibrous food with the aim of, in the language of biotechnology, deep processing.
The way of life determines the special design of the animal’s head. Nostrils, eyes and ear holes (which have special shutters for the case of full immersion) are located almost on one plane. Thus, capybara is able to observe the environment, barely sticking its head out of the water and remaining almost unnoticed. Frequent stay in water is indicated by small membranes between the fingers. By the way, on the forelimbs of the beast there are four fingers, and on the back – three. Each finger ends with a claw, which looks like a small hoof. The animal’s wool is tough, like a wire, brittle, covered with fat – just the kind with which water quickly flows, just as the capybara gets out on land.
