Could I be homies with a capybara?
Just because we, humans, do not share habitats with them, we often do not get many opportunities to interact with aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals. Personally, the only place I can think of that I can rely on to consistently see mammals are at the Vancouver aquarium, or, if I’m lucky, Steveston. Precisely because we don’t get to see them often, I often wonder what life would be like to have an aquatic animal in my life – less so as pets, and more so as friends. The following is a sample selection of aquatic animals that I consistently do think about, and why I think I would be able to befriend one.
Capybara
To me, this one is kind of a no-brainer – Capybara are already popular animals because of their extremely docile temperaments. As evidenced in many videos primarily on YouTube Capybara are great at befriending any animal it comes across, so why wouldn’t I be able to befriend one, too?
Another factor is that Capybaras are, according to allthingscapybara.com, known to enjoy eating fruits and vegetables. As someone with no dietary restrictions, I’m confident that I can share more than just a few meals with Capybaras, though I do not eat as much as they do – but that means they can have what I can’t finish, right?
Yapok
https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/2659757
Also known as “Water opossums”, the biggest reason why I want to befriend one is because all the photos I have seen of Yapoks are of them screaming. Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, they’re about 10-12 inches long (20-26 if we include their tail), making them a perfect size to hold, too. On an even more personal level, I also have a certain level of fascination with opossums as I grew up in an area where we don’t have any running about – given the way the Humane Society of the United States writes about them, they seem harmless, if not a little dirty.
https://imgur.com/gallery/3rWAu
Even amongst opossums in general, my eyes are on Yapoks in particular because of the charm there is in the unusualness of a opossum that lives primarily in the waters. They have a dark coat of fur allegedly to camouflage with the dirt in the rivers, but their large eyes that are peering out from the dirt feel like they are inviting me to fly out to Costa Rica to see one in person.