Lesser capybara
Hydrochoerus isthmius Goldman, 1912
Status not recordedrodents
The lesser capybara (Hydrochoerus isthmius) is a species in the family Caviidae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh about 21.3 kg.
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Quick facts about the lesser capybara
- Weight
- 21.3 kg
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 108 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.99
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the lesser capybara live?
Not recorded
Is the lesser capybara endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the lesser capybara classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyCaviidae
- genusHydrochoerus
- SpeciesHydrochoerus isthmius Goldman, 1912
Synonyms Hydrochoeris isthmius
Other names and names in other languages (17)
- كـابيبارا صغيرةArabic
- Panama kapivarDanish
- PanamawasserschweinGerman
- Capibara menorSpanish
- vähäkapybaraFinnish
- Capybara du PanamaFrench
- קפיבארה ננסיתHebrew
- kis kapibaraHungarian
- Capibara minoreItalian
- ヒメカピバラJapanese
- 작은카피바라Korean
- SmåflodsvinNorwegian Bokmål
- Kleine CapibaraDutch
- kapibara małaPolish
- Capivara-ístimicaPortuguese
- Малая водосвинкаRussian
- Chigüiro menorSpanish
Relatives of the lesser capybara
Other species in the same genus Hydrochoerus.
Capybara
Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris
CompareLesser capybara vs CapybaraLesser capybara vs Hydrochoerus hesperotiganites
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the lesser capybara?
An adult lesser capybara weighs 21.3 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long is the lesser capybara pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 108 days.
What kind of animal is the lesser capybara?
The lesser capybara (Hydrochoerus isthmius) belongs to the family Caviidae in the order Rodentia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Lesser capybara (Hydrochoerus isthmius). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-capybara
“Lesser capybara (Hydrochoerus isthmius).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-capybara.
@misc{lesser_capybara_2026,
title = {Lesser capybara (Hydrochoerus isthmius)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-capybara},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}