Why are Capybaras So Big?

Tumble Science Podcast for Kids

Tumble Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do capybaras have such big teeth? Adrian had to know! To get to the bottom of this, we spoke to a biologist named Santiago Herrera Alvarez. Capybaras are Internet sensations, and Santiago can't get enough of them! Santiago's questions were even bigger than capybara teeth: how did capybaras, a relative of rodents like mice and rats, get to be so enormous? Tune in for a capybara rodeo, and stick around to find out how one little animal can grow to superstardom. Want to learn more? Go visit us at sciencepodcastforkids.com for videos, resources, and so much more about the world's biggest rodents! If you want to support Tumble on Patreon, go to patreon.com/tumblepodcast. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number # 2415575 - Culturally Situated STEM Podcasts for Kids.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Lindsay.
0:04.2	And I'm Marshall. Welcome to Tumble, the show where we explore stories of science discovery.
0:08.6	Today, we're talking about capybara's and how they got to be so big.
0:13.6	Wait, what are capybaras?
0:16.0	Well, they are giant animals, and they're also huge internet superstars. We're going to find out how
0:23.7	these rodents evolved to hit the big time.
0:34.5	Our question today comes from Tumble listener, Adrian.
0:38.9	Hello, my name is Adrian, and I'm nine years old.
0:43.3	And my question about Capibara says, what do they have your teeth so big?
0:49.5	That's a great question from Adrian.
0:52.4	Why are Copibara's tea so big?
0:55.2	I have to admit, I really know absolutely nothing about capybara's. They're like big, brown, furry
1:00.8	things, right? Have I got that right?
1:02.7	Yes. So, capybara are rodents just like mice and rats, but they're huge, and like Adrian says, they have huge teeth.
1:15.7	All right. Well, so are we going to learn the tooth about kapi baras and their humongous chompers?
1:21.7	We'll get to the tooth of the matter.
1:23.9	Oh.
1:24.9	But first, let's ask our listeners, why do you think Capybara's have such big teeth?
1:31.1	And how do you think scientists would find out?
1:33.6	We'll be back with a scientist who is big into studying Capybaras.
1:55.2	We'll be back with a scientist named Santiago Herrera Alvarez.
1:59.7	My name is Santiago Herrera Alvarez. I'm a biologist.
	...

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