The Elusive Lesser Capybara Part II

Owner’s blog:

Lesser Capybara at Gamboa, Panama (photo by Jose Soto)

The amazing photo above is of the elusive lesser capybara. The lesser capybara, Hydrochoerus isthmius, is a second species of capybara found only in Panama and Colombia. And guess what? We are going to go see them!

You might remember my previous blog post about the Elusive Lesser Capybara. That got me thinking. Here was a place, the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, where we can be virtually assured of seeing wild lesser capybara. And we don’t even need to leave the resort to do it! Sign me up for that! So I began emailing Jose Soto at the resort and asking about the probability of seeing capybara and he sent me these great photos.

Band of wild lesser capybara at Gamboa (photo by Jose Soto)

You can see the lesser capybara look a lot like the common capybara. They do seem to be significantly darker and missing the red in their fur. Their faces look more blunt and maybe a little bit bigger and their fur looks shorter. I cannot wait to find out if that is true by seeing them in person! Jose, who is the activity director, said he would set up some special tours for us so that we can see even more capybara.

Lesser capybara with cattle egret (photo by Jose Soto)

Stacy Winnick (who owns Dobby (or Dobbye) Winnick, Caplin Rous’ little brother), will be going to. So will popular capybara-related personalities Coral and Sheldon. Stacy and I might give a talk on what it is like to keep a capybara as a pet, depending on if anyone is interested.

So the point is, if you want to see capybara in the wild, why not meet up with us in Panama this December? We are going to be at the resort from December 26th through January 2nd.  Let me know if you decide to come.