Capybaras are very sensitive and emotional animals and they do not cope well with stress. Capybaras have very high emotional intelligence.
A life in captivity can be very stressful for a capybara. Captivity refers to living in a zoo or as a pet.
Captivity usually provides a completely unnatural way of life and habitat for a capybara. Because Capybaras do not react well to stress, many capybaras in captivity die prematurely because they lose the will to live due to the circumstances of their lives in captivity.
I know of at least three capybaras who died because they lost the will to live: Duro, Ryoko, Zabon.
Duro
Duro lived as a pet capybara with Eros. When Eros passed away Duro lost his one and only friend. Six months after Eros died a new pet moved into Duro’s home. The arrival of a new pet is often the trigger for an established pet animal to give up the will to live and pass away.
By this time Duro was completely blind. He lost one eye in a mystery accident when he was born. When he was about 6 years old he developed a cataract in his good eye and gradually went blind. The sight in this eye could have been restored as cataracts are routinely removed by vets. A lion in India, living in the wild, was acting strangely. An investigation revealed that the lion had cataracts on both his eyes and had gone blind. The vet in India was able to remove both cataracts. As part of the procedure, the animal has to be given antibiotics following the operation to remove a cataract so that the eye does not become infected. With humans, the antibiotic is given as eyedrops, but with an animal it is more likely that the antibiotic will have to be given as an injection. This is because with some animals it is difficult to administer eyedrops.
Duro’s eye was not operated on so he was now completely blind. While Eros was alive he had Eros to rely on. Eros was his friend, his only friend. Unlike Eros, he had not bonded with humans. Duro understood that he had little in common with humans and much more in common with Eros.
When Eros passed away Duro lost his one and only friend. Marc and I had always been very close to Duro but because of the pandemic we had not been able to visit him for almost 2 years. Tragically, we had no idea that Duro was suffering and going downhill. Had we known we would have gone to Henderson to be with Duro that summer, before he passed away at the beginning of September. We had had our vaccines so it would have been safe for us to travel. Duro had always been a very healthy capybara and I was expecting him to live for, at the very least, another 3 years. We were planning to visit him that Autumn. Had we known of Duro’s condition we would have rushed to be with him.
A rodentologist friend suggested that the arrival of the new pet might have been the reason Duro lost the will to live. When I finally met this new pet three years later I understood immediately that this pet was the reason Duro had lost the will to live. The pet was a hyperactive Yorkshire terrier who continually barked and growled. He also frequently nipped Duro. Perhaps even worse, the family seemed to absolutely adore this obnoxious dog and gave him so much love, affection and attention, which they had never given to Eros and Duro. It was heartbreaking to experience.
Duro had always been closer to the wife and every night Duro slept on her bed. However, with the arrival of the dog Duro’s place in the wife’s heart was gone. The dog spent every night on the wife’s bed. It was the wife who acquired the dog and the dog usurped Duro’s place in her life.
I shall always believe that if we had been with Duro after the arrival of the dog, he might well still be alive today. I have seen videos of Duro and the dog interacting and it was obvious that Duro was not happy or comfortable in the presence of the dog.
Put yourself in Duro’s place. Can you imagine being blind and having your life invaded by a hyperactive animal who bit you, and constantly barked and growled and rushed around. Being blind Duro would have felt completely lost. He would have sensed all the love and attention this pet was being given. He would have grown very depressed with nothing left to live for.
Duro had always been such a courageous, confident, optimistic, healthy capybara. He overcame his very painful birth which resulted in significant injuries and the loss of his right eye, to become one of the largest and healthiest capybaras I have known.
Ryoko
We were the only people who Ryoko sat on the laps of. I think we were the only humans she trusted, which was why my inability to make her life better was so devastating for her and heartbreaking for me.
Ryoko was a highly intelligent capybara who completely mistrusted the keepers. She was Hinase’s daughter and was expected to succeed her mother as leader of the herd. However, she suffered a partial miscarriage and her babies were delivered by cesarean (C section). She did not eat for two weeks following the operation and when she was allowed back into the herd, having been separated with her only surviving pup after giving birth, she was attacked by several capybaras who took advantage of her very weakened state.
Ryoko had suffered a partial miscarriage when she was frightened by one of the keepers when she was heavily pregnant. She ran as fast as she could to the pond in search of safety. She sat down by the pond and her body heaved massively three times. I said to Marc that I was very worried about Ryoko. I was very concerned about what state I would find her when we arrived the next morning.
As Ryoko could no longer live as part of the herd she was kept in a separate enclosure adjacent to the main capybara enclosure. Here she could entertain herself by attracting Donut’s attention and he would rush over and try to fight her. I have shown this in the following video, with a description:
Capybara Behaviour Is SO Fascinating. How a Capybara Copes with Separation. Ryoko Lures Donut To …
Capybara Behaviour Is SO Fascinating. How A Capybara Copes with Separation. Ryoko Lures Donut Over To Entertain Her and Relieve the Boredom of Separation. Ryoko had to be separated from the herd for her own protection after the tragedy surrounding the birth of her pups. She suffered a partial miscarriage and her pups were delivered by cesarean (C-section). After this she did not eat for a week and became very weak. When she was released back into the main herd she was attacked by several of the capybaras who wanted her place in the hierarchy so she had to be separated again. Ryoko is a very tough minded capybara and deals with the stress of being separated by lowering Donut over to engage with her and relieve the boredom she now experiences by being separated. Donut is always aggressive to any capybara who is in a separate enclosure. Ryoko plays on this and attracts his attention by jumping in her little pond making a huge splash, and by running round and round her enclosure and by barking. Sure enough, this always gets a reaction from Donut who comes running over. You can hear him tooth chattering as he tries to fight with Ryoko through the fence which separates them. Sometimes Ryoko walks very slowly, tantalisingly close to him, watching him as he gets more and more worked up. Ryoko is a highly intelligent capybara and was expected to succeed her mother, Hinase, as leader of the herd.
However, one day when Ko, another neutered male capybara in the herd, was trying to fight with Ryoko through the bars of the fence which separated them, a stupid visitor tried to intervene. There was never any danger of Ryoko or Ko being injured by their aggression towards each other through the bars of the fence, so it was an incredibly stupid act of interference. Not surprisingly the man got bitten accidentally by Ko when the stupid man tried to intervene. Completely unacceptably the Biopark decided to move Ryoko to another enclosure out of sight of the herd. Ko was also removed from the herd and put in a separate enclosure behind the zoo where he died prematurely from the stress of living alone. (Ko, like his father Kona, was very responsive to petting and would have become very depressed having no interactions with the rest of the herd or with humans).
The final straw for Ryoko was being taken away as part of the travelling zoo. This is a very stressful, frightening experience which no capybara should have to endure, as I have told the Biopark many times.
I am afraid I may also have contributed to Ryoko losing the will to live. Prior to the pandemic I used to spend time with Ryoko every day, petting her through, or over, the bars of her fence. We could not be with her for three years because of the pandemic. When Japan finally reopened to foreigners we immediately returned to the Bio Park in mid October 2022. I asked after Ryoko. I was told she came down to be fed near the capybara enclosure in the evenings. A few days later this happened and I was able to see Ryoko again. I called to her several times. She knew exactly who I was but she did not come over. I was shocked at her appearance and condition. She was a shadow of her former self and looked very depressed and stressed. Three weeks after we arrived and three days after being taken away as part of the travelling zoo, Ryoko died. The vet carried out a post-mortem but could find no cause for her death. He said she had lost the will to live and we both agreed that being taken away as part of the travelling zoo would have been very stressful for her. The vet considered this was the final straw which had caused her to give up the will to live.
I feel certain that my arrival back in Japan and the fact that I was not able to improve her situation, made her realise she had nothing left to live for.
On her last few days before she passed away Hinase, Ryoko’s mother, tried very hard, despite her very weak condition, to climb the mossy hill which led up to the enclosure where Ryoko had been kept. I am certain Hinase wanted to be with her daughter in the last few days of her life. Other capybara mothers are comforted and supported by their daughters in the weeks leading up to their deaths.
Zabon
Zabon’s premature death was unforgivable and could easily have been prevented. When Zabon was chosen to breed in the winter of 2016/2017 I was surprised the Bio Park had chosen her because she was not the healthiest of the female capybaras. She was a little thin and the condition of her coat was not as good as the other capybaras. That year she did not get pregnant.
The following year she successfully became pregnant but her condition, after giving birth, deteriorated and gave cause for great concern. She lost a lot of weight and was just skin and bone. She had also lost a lot of hair. However, valiant mother that she was, she tried very hard to do her best for her two babies, Madoka and Ko. She tried to be an excellent mother despite being very weak.
I was therefore shocked to discover that Zabon had been chosen to breed for a second time the following year. This was a very cruel decision given what happened to Zabon on the previous occasion when she became pregnant and gave birth. In addition, she was suffering from a very painful, swollen foot but she could not be given antibiotics to treat this because she was pregnant. She frequently hopped around on three legs and I was deeply, deeply concerned about her, and the effect on her babies, when she was heavilypregnant, of this rough, heaving motion as she hopped. She also had great difficulty getting in and out of the pond. I was concerned that this “hopping motion” might result in her suffering a miscarriage. The time was August when the temperature sometimes rises as high as 40°C, so it was essential for Zabon to go into the pond to thermoregulate and keep her body temperature stable.
Zabon gave birth to three healthy pups in mid-September. I was horrified to see the chief capybara keeper interfering with the pups immediately after they had been born. These interventions destroy the bond between mother and baby and would never be tolerated in a good zoo. In good zoos the keepers will not even intervene for at least 24 hours or more, if at all possible, when there appears to be a problem with the newborn baby or if the mother is showing no interest in her newborn and not feeding her, in the hopes that the problem will resolve itself without interference from the keepers.
I was even more horrified to see other people, including the general manager, going into Zabon’s enclosure and petting and filming her babies within a few hours of their birth.
The chief capybara keeper continued to interact with, and interfere with the pups, carrying out the role of a mother capybara and performing the behaviours a mother capybara would normally provide, like licking the baby’s bottom is to stimulate him to defecate. The chief capybara keeper endlessly called to Zabon, to do this or that, in a cold, unpleasant, screechy voice. It was obvious that this was causing Zabon great stress. When the chief capybara keeper tried to get Zabon to go back into the enclosure Zabon was very reluctant to move. However, when the other two capybara keepers ushered Zabon back into her enclosure at the end of the day she willingly complied.
I was heartbroken, but not surprised, to discover that Zabon had passed away just two months after giving birth. Her death was caused by the chief capybara keeper and the chief animal keeper. Caused by their decision to breed Zabon for a second year when she had suffered so much the previous year. They should have chosen Aoba to breed. Aoba was the natural choice for any Western zoo. She was a large, friendly capybara and she would have inherited her mother, Momiji’s, excellent parenting skills. She would also have carried on the best bloodline at Nagasaki Bio Park, descending from Donguri, through her daughter Momiji. Aoba was not chosen to breed to spite me and punish me for raising Animal Welfare issues.
Nagasaki Bio Park has not had any baby capybaras for almost 5 years due to their lack of understanding and knowledge of capybara reproduction.