Humans are weird. They ignore most nature but fetishize some cuddly animals. Like the capybara, a giant rodent.
The capybara is both a rodent and a mammal. They are gentle creatures despite their large size and odd shape. They can grow to over 200 lbs. They are also semi-aquatic which is why they have webs on their furry paws.
Capybaras have huge fan-bases on (human) social media. The New Yorker just printed an amusing paean to the capybara by a famous writer. He describes visiting zoos to see some and a long trek to South America to see more. In Japan there are "capybara cafes" where, for money, you can drink coffee with a capybara while it chews on carrots. The cafes have lines out the door.
The magazine author describes another odd thing. In Florida -- of course -- an animal sanctuary has capybaras. For $35, they will write any message on edible paper ("Happy Birthday, Gunther!") and feed it to the animals. Patrons get to watch their message being eaten on video. The sanctuary calls these "Capygrams."
Weird.
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