Help! Capybara catastrophe!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Forget mice! Imagine if your home was infested with giant brown guinea pigs!
South America’s capybaras are the world’s largest rodents. Some consider them pests, but they’re illegal to hunt. Is there a harmless way to scare them off?
Enter Natalia Ruiz-Tagle from the University of Bristol.
Ruiz-Tagle and team went to popular capybara grazing spots near Lake Paranoa in Brazil. They placed jaguar scat there daily and observed.
At first, the rodents were driven away by the predator’s poop. PEW! In some areas, over ninety percent of them took off. But a few days later, they were back!
The team thinks that adding a jaguar-noise soundtrack could be more effective!
Or maybe some annoying music? Don’t worry, be capy!
Reference: Ruiz-Tagle, N. M., Nogueira-Filho, S. L. G, Knowles, T. G., et al. (2021). Using predator feces as a repellent for free-ranging urban capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). Acta Ethologica. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-021-00377-8