Capybara should include

Their habitat typically experiences approximately 2. Individual herds may temporarily create larger aggregations, which may contain up to one hundred individuals. The herd size varies according to the season, with larger groups found during the dry season Lord, Likewise, H. Wild Capybara live an average of 4 years, but can live about 10 years in human care.

The animals must be protected or provided accommodation from weather, and any adverse conditions. AZA Accreditation Standard 1. Water can be provided in the form of a pool, mister, or mud wallows. Shade may be provided by trees, shelters, shade cloth, or access to an indoor area. AZA institutions with exhibits which rely on climate control must have critical life-support systems for the animal collection and emergency backup systems available.

Indoor enclosures require heating, ventilation, and air conditioning HVAC systems to maintain their climates, and these systems must have a secondary power source in the event of an emergency or a power outage. Secondary power sources include backup generators for the building housing the exhibit, and these systems should be maintained by certified HVAC workers T.

Schoffner, personal communication, Capybara presented in an educational setting provide an opportunity to achieve these outcomes in a number of specific ways. Recommendations for messaging with capybara are listed below. Capybara Posted on 4 Jul by ryoungzatl. Longevity Wild Capybara live an average of 4 years, but can live about 10 years in human care Ecosystem Role Husbandry Information Housing Requirements Life Cycle Natural History Relevant Information Include relevant information on breeding, reproduction, growth and development that may require necessary housing modifications.

Temperature, Humidity, Light Cycles The animals must be protected or provided accommodation from weather, and any adverse conditions. Light Cycles Careful consideration should be given to the spectral, intensity, and duration of light needs for all animals in the care of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums.

Natural fluorescent or incandescent lighting is acceptable to provide the light part of the cycle. When animals are housed indoors, it is recommended that a UV light also be used for a minimum of 7 hours per day as a source of visual stimulation.

It has yet to be documented if a variation in the light cycle plays an important role in affecting capybara behavior. Animals must be well cared for and presented in a manner reflecting modern zoological practices in exhibit design AZA Accreditation Standard 1.

All animals must be housed in enclosures that meet their physical and psychological needs, as well as their social needs.

Social needs: Capybaras are social animals that should be kept in groups ranging from neonate to geriatric individuals Moreira et al. In smaller social groups, large age gaps require more monitoring, as some older animals can be intolerant of younger individuals. In nature, social groups contain more females than males, because when males reach sexual maturity the dominant males expel them from the group. Males should not be housed together, especially if females are nearby, as this will increase the probability of fighting.

Introductions should be carried out very carefully, as bonded adults may attack or kill strange adults see Chapter 5. Use caution when deciding to separate an individual, as it is very difficult to reintroduce capybaras. Separated individuals may be housed outdoors providing there is adequate shelter from extreme weather. Typical capybara herds are composed of one dominant male subordinate males are peripheral members of the herd , several adult females, and their young.

As a result, unfamiliar individuals are often attacked. The ideal social structure, in terms of age and sex, would result from developing a herd with a founder male and one or more females of approximately the same age.

As such, the ideal number of capybaras at an institution will vary by exhibit size and institutional capabilities. Bachelor groups of capybaras are not advised, as males become aggressive towards one another once they reach sexual maturity Moreira et al. Capybaras, both males and females, reach sexual maturity at approximately 15 months of age in managed care facilities Moreira et al. Exhibit space: Exhibit size varies based on the size of the herd and other species housed in the enclosure.

The minimum exhibit space recorded in an unpublished survey of AZA-accredited institutions that house capybaras was 95 m 2 ft 2 which held one nonbreeding pair of capybaras, while the maximum was 15, m 2 52, ft 2 for a mixed species exhibit. The median exhibit size was m 2 ft 2.

Based on the survey, capybaras are able to stay on exhibit 24 hours a day as they are not considered dangerous animals. Facilities that are located in areas with extreme temperature changes by season may choose to seasonally leave their capybaras on exhibit or bring them into a holding space overnight. Additionally, because capybaras are not capable of climbing, exhibits do not need to be fully enclosed.

When capybaras are housed in fully enclosed exhibits, these exhibits usually have a mixed species composition with fully flighted birds or species that have the ability to climb.

Exhibit substrate: Enclosures should contain natural substrates including mulch, sod, hay, leaf litter, river rock, straw, gravel, sand, and flagstone. The entire exhibit does not need to have thick substrate, just localized spots. Exhibit cleaning: Capybaras normally scent mark on trees and rocks around their living spaces, and these may need periodic cleaning or replacement. It is typically more efficient to replace logs and plants than to clean them.

Enclosures should be cleaned, with wet or soiled bedding replaced, on a daily basis. Capybaras defecate in water, so artificial pools without recirculating, filtered water should be cleaned and disinfected at least once a week. Natural pools need to have filtration for the solid waste, especially if the water source is shared with other habitats.

Enclosure complexity: Capybaras do not typically show signs of stress due to the presence of visitors; therefore, it is not necessary to house capybaras behind glass or a great distance away from visitors. However, capybaras are flight animals and should be provided with a hide for cover; this may necessitate that more than one area is available within the enclosure. Examples of hides include, but are not limited to, wooden shelters, caves, access to a holding facility, vegetation, rocks, logs, bamboo, and waterfalls.

The addition of rocks, fallen logs, trees, bushes, and leaves within the exhibit encourages increased activity levels for all group members. Exhibits should be well planted to give individuals visual barriers from each other. Capybaras rest through the hot portion of the day and nap on and off throughout the night. Rest areas should be sheltered and well bedded. Plants commonly used include palms, tall grasses, and trees and shrubs native to the area.

If artificial vining is necessary, capybaras should be monitored for ingestion. Injuries caused by enclosure materials are rare, but superficial wounds and teeth damage may be associated with chain link fences. Water sources: Capybaras should have frequent access to bodies of water since a significant amount of their behavior, including feeding, mating, escape, and hiding revolves around water.

Pools should be provided in both indoor and outdoor enclosures. The median pool size in AZA capybara exhibits is The water in the exhibits can be provided as a pool, a pond, a river, or a lagoon.

Pools may be as shallow as 1. Sufficient shade must be provided by natural or artificial means when sunlight is likely to cause overheating or discomfort to the animals AZA Accreditation Standard Ambassador capybaras require access to water in their enclosures for drinking and encouraging other natural behaviors, such as wallowing and defecation. Pools can vary in size and style, ranging from Water should be accessible year-round, particularly as a cooling option seasonally on warmer days; both facilities had pools outdoors for use in hot weather.

The wild diet of a capybara varies from the dry season where food availability and quality are reduced to the wet season where there are abundant resources and can include herbaceous plants, leaves, aquatic plants reeds, water hyacinths , grasses, and crops fruits, grains, seeds, vegetables.

Diet under human care Nogueira-Filhoet al. Calcium requirement: 0. Fruits are a typical ingredient in most capybara diets as fruits are high in vitamin C. However, fruit—especially our cultivated fruits—are high in sugars that will disrupt the gut microbial population.

Therefore, fruit should not be used as the sole means of providing vitamin C to managed capybaras; vitamin C may be added to the diet in powder form as a supplement. Diets high in fiber: The capybara GIT requires a diet high in fiber to support fermentation and a healthy microbial population.

Considering that an adult capybara should consume approximately 2, kilocalories kcal daily, and these kilocalories should come from foods that are high fiber but are relatively low in kilocalories, the capybara should occupy much of its day eating and chewing. Hey I just started learning RSpec is there a tutorial while using these awesome cheatsheets? Hi, this Gist is outdated - it still uses the "should" syntax. In newer versions of Capybara, it was replaced by the "expect" syntax.

Hey, so with expect syntax and couple things that work different, hopefully helpful :. I was working from nerdinand fork. Line 44 should be: To pass xpath as the default selector type. Skip to content. Sign in Sign up. Instantly share code, notes, and snippets. Created Mar 23, Code Revisions 9 Stars Forks Embed What would you like to do? Embed Embed this gist in your website. Share Copy sharable link for this gist. Learn more about clone URLs. Asserts that any of the provided selectors are present on the given page or descendants of the current node.

Asserts that the page or current node doesn't have the given text content, ignoring any HTML tags. Asserts that none of the provided selectors are present on the given page or descendants of the current node.

Checks if the page or current node does not have the given text content, ignoring any HTML tags and normalizing whitespace. If options are provided, the assertion will check that each locator is present with those options as well other than :wait. It accepts all options that Finders all accepts, such as :text and :visible. Optional selector type :css, :xpath, :field, etc. It also accepts all options that Finders all accepts, such as :text and :visible.

Asserts that a given selector is not on the page or a descendant of the current node. Query options such as :count , :minimum , :maximum , and :between are considered to be an integral part of the selector. This will return true , for example, if a page contains 4 anchors but the query expects Whether to check for only visible or all text.

If it's a string, text is expected to include it. If it's a regexp, text is expected to match it. Whether text must be an exact match or just substring. When true replace all whitespace with standard spaces and collapse consecutive whitespace to a single space.

If options are provided, the assertion will check that each locator is not present with those options as well other than :wait. Asserts that the current node does not match a given selector. By default it will check if the expression occurs at least once, but a different number can be specified. This will check if the expression occurs exactly 4 times.