THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
rowers; but their appearance is very different, for they have 
five-toed paws on short, strong legs and the general shape and 
attitude of big, tailless woodchucks, richly brown in color and 
ornamented with rows of white spots. This beautiful pelt is 
THE CAPYBARA OR CARPINCHO, 
of no commercial valuc, however, on account of its thinness 
and the coarseness of the hair. 
The largest of all this group not only, but the biggest of 
existing rodents, is the capybara, carpincho, water hog or 
water haas, as it is locally and variously called, 
which reaches a length of four feet and a weight 
of one hundred pounds, and looks like a gigantic rough-coated 
guinea pig, as, in truth, it is. It is to be met with all over 
Brazil, the Guianas, and Uruguay, and not only forms the prin- 
cipal food of the jaguar and other large beasts of prey, but its 
420 
Capybara. 
