A protective buffer of cuteness

I'm just as tired as many of you probably are of seeing the hideous mug of that Cuban scumbag at the top of the site.  So without further ado, as an insurmountable buffer of cuteness against that jpeg of villainy, here's the largest and inarguably the most adorable of all rodents--the capybara:

The bigness of the critter in this image is not a result of an extreme closeup; if a capybara fell on your chihuahua, it would surely smoosh it, for it is large (adults are up to four feet long and may weigh up to 175 pounds, according to reliable sources).  And though it is known as a carpincho in Spanish, there are actually no recorded instances of capybaras stealing cars.

So let us bask in the protective shield cast by this fetchingly diffident rodent, and suffer no more.  And if one isn't enough for you (and really, how could it be?), they await you in large numbers here.

[ NOTE: "Capybara" is considered a typo by the default spell-check configuration of Firefox, as is "smoosh".  I will of course file this as a critical bug. ]

Comments

[Save the Oocytes]

I've been a fan of the capybara ever since I learned of them. I think they were actually my desktop wallpaper at some point. Wikipedia has a capybara page with many nice pictures, including capybaras in the wild, baby capybaras with their families, and pet capybaras. I was also delighted, on rereading, to find that they are creatures that are not yet actually not endangered, as opposed to seemingly everything else nowadays.

[SteveB]

Wait - which one is the capybara?

[Mark Miller]

They have a big capybara display at the West Palm Beach, Florida, zoo. Capybara are aquatic at least some of the time, and there is a big pond for them at the zoo.

[Save the Oocytes]

Sorry, "I've been a fan of capybaras."

[Thomas Daulton]

Let's name him *SPEAK!!* ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_%28The_Tick%29 )

[John Caruso]

I had no idea there was so much interest in capybaras (and recognition of their inherent rodential superiority). My heart soars like a hawk.

[gfod]

He's so handsome! Right up there with Knut and puppies.