Has social revolution spread to Argentina? While the country has historically witnessed economic strife, onlookers were graced with a new sort of rebellion in 2021, when hordes of capybara (large rodents also known as “water hogs”) created a stampede and rampaged through gated communities in an affluent suburb located twenty five miles north of Buenos Aires. Known in Argentina as carpinchos, capybaras are gentle and herbivorous, but they are hard to miss. They are the world’s largest living rodents, measuring more than three feet long and weighing more than 170 pounds.
Though previously preyed upon by jaguars, the latter have almost disappeared in Argentina, and now the rodents, which reproduce at a high rate, as many rodents do, have increased in population. Local scientists say that in one year, their numbers shot up by 16%, according to Time Magazine. More and more have been trampling through gardens and golf courses.
Recently, capybaras have expanded their presence in Buenos Aires province due to climate change. Indeed, the capital has become more tropical, and increased temperatures and precipitation have created more suitable habitat for the creatures. Researchers believe more rainfall and flooding may have caused some brackish lagoons to become less salty, a trend which favors capybaras, since the animals are semi-aquatic freshwater mammals. They seemingly prefer water so much, “hydro” is in their Latin binomial twice: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris.
The rich label the rodents “pests,” but are these “masters of the grasses” invaders or merely “reappropriating” what is theirs? Gated communities and golf courses are located on vulnerable wetlands along the Paraná River, home to capybara habitat. However, this hasn’t stopped rapacious real estate interests from pursuing indiscriminate development which poses a threat to wetlands. Leftist politicians, meanwhile, argue capybaras have become a “symbol of socio-environmental resistance” and even call for “capybara protest caravans.” Young environmentalists, meanwhile, have created a popular hashtag, “VidaDeCarpinchos” (“Life of Carpinchos”) to draw attention to ongoing environmental campaigns.
Leftist politicians argue capybaras have become a “symbol of socio-environmental resistance” and even call for “capybara protest caravans.”
Activists are particularly concerned about wetland ecosystems, which are vulnerable to climate change. Ominously, the Paraná delta — the second largest river in South America after the Amazon — caught fire several years ago amid terrible drought. The flames worsened when the water table dropped, which in turn exposed flammable carbon-rich soil. Paradoxically, even though climate change has benefited capybaras in certain respects, in other ways the animals have been placed at greater risk. Indeed, wildfires displace capybara, driving them towards urban areas, and drought may drive the animals to flee towards areas with already scarce water resources.
A capybara crosses a street while others eat grass in a gated community in Tigre, Buenos Aires province, on August 27, 2021. (MAGALI CERVANTES/AFP via Getty Images)Though rodents have evolved in South America for millions of years, some may wonder how the animals will cope with new environmental challenges.