I never stopped looking for capybaras, the entire time I was in Brazil. When we arrived in Viçosa, we drove around likely areas, looking everywhere.
Area of Universidade Federal de Viçosa where capybaras are typically seen grazing at night
Behind a fence, off to the side of the road, I spotted some slow moving potato shaped animals.
One is wearing a tracking collar. They are tracking family groups.
We watch these guys eating grass for a while, then we get bored and walking back to the car, we see another one, closer, outside the fence!
Looks like a male to me.
But wait! Look beyond him to that slope across the street!
Look out for that car!
They’re all over the place!
Note to self: urban capybaras in Brazil are nocturnal. Bring a tripod!
They are fat and furry. And muddy!
Take a bath!
They let me get pretty close, but weren’t used to getting much attention and scampered away when they realized how interested I was.
Run away, big mama!
OH! More are down in that ditch! I tried to take a video in the dark, but there were only munching sounds to record. The grass in Brazil is very coarse, so it was very noisy.
You could munch on celery to simulate the eating noise.
It turns out there are four in that ditch. One by the side of the road and two behind the fence, for a total of seven capybaras.
Four muddy chubby capybaras
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Sam, Flavia, and Winder are shooting the breeze. You can see that male by the road behind them.
Sam, Flavia, and Winder are all oblivious to this miraculous convocation.
I’m still taking fuzzy unfocused photographs of fat filthy foragers.
That’s some serious good mud.
I wander back to the male by the road. I’m drawn to him because he looks familiar.
Not Dobbye
He is finally annoyed by the attention, though I am no longer using a flash on my camera.
The flash photos were not good, but this photo looked black, like an unexposed frame. It cleaned up pretty good.
He sauntered away to join his amigos.
Adeus meu amiguinho!
Goodbye, my little friend!
Dobby the Capybara 