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 Watery Whiskers Melanie’s Post: In case you hadn’t noticed, tomorrow is Caplin Day! Get out your popsicles, blueberries, swiss chard, spinach, pears, or other goodies beloved by capybaras and prepare to party! Don’t forget to jump in the pool and roll around. Or take a mud bath, if you prefer! It’s going to be a worldwide celebration. There is not going to be a Countdown to Caplin Day: 1 because we will be out celebrating.
Melanie’s Post: Just how wonderful are capybaras? Yes, they should be on the cover of National Geographic Magazine. That goes without saying.But how much more wonderful is a capybara than you are? Or do you imagine yourself to be the more wonderful? Before you answer that, you should read this poem. Unit of MeasureAll can be measured by the standard of the capybara.
Everyone is lesser than or greater than the capybara.
Everything is taller or shorter than the capybara.
Everything is mistaken for a Brazilian dance craze
more or less frequently than the capybara.
Everyone eats greater or fewer watermelons
than the capybara. Everyone eats more or less bark.
Everyone barks more than or less than the capybara,
who also whistles, clicks, grunts, and emits what is known
as his alarm squeal. Everyone is more or less alarmed
than a capybara, who—because his back legs
are longer than his front legs—feels like
he is going downhill at all times.
Everyone is more or less a master of grasses
than the capybara. Or going by the scientific name,
more or less Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris—
or, going by the Greek translation, more or less
water hog. Everyone is more or less
of a fish than the capybara, defined as the outermost realm
of fishdom by the 16th-century Catholic Church.
Everyone is eaten more or less often for Lent than
the capybara. Shredded, spiced, and served over plantains,
everything tastes more or less like pork
than the capybara. Before you decide that you are
greater than or lesser than a capybara, consider
that while the Brazilian capybara breeds only once a year,
the Venezuelan variety mates continuously.
Consider the last time you mated continuously.
Consider the year of your childhood when you had
exactly as many teeth as the capybara—
twenty—and all yours fell out, and all his
kept growing. Consider how his skin stretches
in only one direction. Accept that you are stretchier
than the capybara. Accept that you have foolishly
distributed your eyes, ears, and nostrils
all over your face. Accept that now you will never be able
to sleep underwater. Accept that the fish
will never gather to your capybara body offering
their soft, finned love. One of us, they say, one of us,
but they will not say it to you.
 Capybara at San Diego Zoo Melanie’s Post: Caplin Day is the perfect excuse to visit a zoo to see some capybaras. Or you could “adopt” or sponsor a capybara at a zoo or wildlife park. Be sure to mention that you are there specifically to see the capybaras. We need to make zoos aware that capys are the favorite animal of a lot of people.  Little Melanie’s Post: Caplin Day is about sharing memories, images, and stories about all capybaras, living and dead. My previous post, Countdown to Caplin Day: 7, focused on living capybaras, today’s will focus on capybaras we have lost.  The first Caplin Day Melanie’s Post: The first Caplin Day was July 10, 2011, six months after Caplin died. By that time I had already adopted little Garibaldi Rous who was, by then, about a year and a half old. To celebrate I tried to feed him blueberries, one of Caplin’s very favorite foods, but he refused to eat them. Instead they all fell to the bottom of the pool. So the first Caplin Day was a bit of a flop. Remember, eating blueberries is one of the accepted ways to celebrate Caplin Day! Spinach is also a possibility because Caplin ate spinach as a treat. The Popeye of capybaras! |
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