Lesser capybara

The lesser capybara (Hydrochoerus isthmius)Hydrochoerus isthmius (lesser capybara). University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. is a large semiaquatic rodent of the family Caviidae found in eastern Panama, northwestern Colombia, and western Venezuela. The lesser capybara was described as a species in 1912, but later demoted to a subspecies of the capybara (H. hydrochaeris). Following studies of anatomy and genetics in the mid-1980s, it was recommended that it again should be recognized as a separate species, and this gained more widespread recognition in 1991, although some continue to consider it a subspecies.
The lesser capybara closely resembles the capybara, but adults of the former species typically weigh up to about , while adults of the latter species weigh at least and often much more. The lesser capybara breeds year-round, with an average litter size of 3.5. Individuals may be diurnal or nocturnal and solitary or social depending on season, habitat, and hunting pressure. This species is reported to be common in Panama, but rare in Venezuela. It is threatened by subsistence hunting, the destruction of gallery forests, and swamp drainage, specifically that of the Magdalena River. Its karyotype has 2n = 64 and FN = 104, compared to 2n = 66 and FN = 102 for H. hydrochaeris.
== References ==
Category:Rodents of South America
Category:Rodents of Central America
Category:Mammals of Colombia
Category:Mammals of Venezuela
Category:Cavies
Category:Aquatic mammals
Category:Mammals described in 1912
Category:Taxa named by Edward Alphonso Goldman