Capybaras, the world's largest rodents, are increasingly kept as exotic pets and in zoological collections, raising welfare questions about the needs of a highly social, semi-aquatic species adapted to South American wetlands.
Capybaras kept as pets or in inadequate zoo exhibits face welfare challenges rooted in their highly social and semi-aquatic nature. Isolation or small-group housing is profoundly stressful for animals that evolved in large social groups. Without adequate water access - including pools large enough to fully submerge - capybaras develop skin problems, behavioral abnormalities, and psychological distress. Their digestive systems require access to their own feces (coprophagy) as part of normal hindgut fermentation - preventing this access causes nutritional deficiency. Even in well-resourced private ownership, meeting capybara social and environmental needs is exceptionally challenging, making them poorly suited to the pet trade.