Baby Capybara Born at San Diego Zoo
A baby capybara the world's largest rodent has been born at the San Diego Zoo.
Animal care staff report that first-time mother Rose is taking great care of her offspring , which nurses several times a day.
Within an hour of being born, the baby could be seen running around the exhibit chewing on branches and trees. Keepers haven't been close enough to the baby to determine its sex.
A water-loving species, capybaras are found in Central and South America, but lived in Southern California during the Pleistocene epoch, 12,000 years ago. Fossil remains of a capybara were found in San Diego County in 1995.
This discovery shows that Southern California was a wetter environment during the Pleistocene, because modern capybaras don't stray far from water.
