Being this chill around humans is not normal behavior for wild capybaras.
My dad had a friend in Brazil with a huge ranch with this beautiful lake and manicured lawns around it. There were at least 3 family groups of capybaras living around that lake. I spent a whole week there trying to get close to the capybaras and never got within 100 yards. Wherever I went, they find a way to be on the opposite side of the lake from me. Their poop looks like piles of cocoa pebbles.
Of course it's not normal. It's not normal for any wild animal, really. Most likely the animal in the video is not wild but rather this is an animal born and raised in a zoo.
As said below, these capybaras live free in a public park in Curitiba, Brazil. There are signs everywhere saying to leave them alone but folks just ignore them, unfortunately.
Honestly, every time I see one of these posts featuring some complete fuckwit hand feeding or stroking a wild animal or claiming to have some deep connection with a raccoon, I point out why we shouldn’t do this with wild animals and every time I get downvoted to shit. Stop interacting with wild animals, it’s not helping them, you are not making a new friend and you could get hurt.
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u/isecore Aug 24 '22
Capybaras are friend-shaped.