Capybaras are the largest rodents on Earth, and in the tropical jungles of South America, like the Amazon and the Pantanal, they often fall prey to hungry jaguars.
With their sharp canine teeth, jaguars can easily bite through a turtle’s shell, and they have even been known to ambush and bite into the brain cases of caimans, which are relatives of alligators. The fatty flesh of a capybara thus proves to be no obstacle for the jaguar to sink its teeth into, as you can see in the clip below.
Capybaras are found in every South American country except Chile. They are the largest rodents in the world, growing to nearly five feet in length and standing two feet tall at the shoulders. These animals typically weigh between 70 to 150 pounds — as big as the largest of dogs!
Their physical size, as well as dense population, makes them a target for hungry jaguars.
Capybaras possess surprising speed, especially in the water where the jaguar has more difficulty capturing them. Watch the video below to see how a stealthy jaguar failed to capture the speedy rodent:
In another video, we see two young, inexperienced jaguars hunt a capybara in captivity:
