Video footage of Samba resting on a bank of the River Itchen, near Winchester,<\/a> was shared earlier this week by a dog walker.<\/p>\nBut what are capybaras, the world’s biggest rodent species?<\/p>\n
According to Laura Read, the Chief Executive of Marwell Wildlife, capybaras like Samba are related to animals such as guinea pigs, mice and rats.<\/p>\n
They are native to South America and are semi-aquatic, living in and around rivers, riverbanks, or waterways.<\/p>\n
When they feel threatened, they jump into the water and hide where they can hold their breath underwater for up to 10 minutes. <\/p>\n
Samba will be eating a vegetarian diet in the wild like other capybaras which includes grass, leaves and fruit. <\/p>\n
Ms Read described them as “gentle” and “calm”, explaining they don’t pose a risk to anyone. <\/p>\n
She said they like to be social and live in big groups with other capybaras.<\/p>\n
At nine months old, Samba is not yet fully grown and is the size of a small to medium dog. <\/p>\n
Where could Samba be?<\/p>\n
Ms Read thinks she could be on the waterway between Twford and Allbrook which is about two and a half miles from the zoo which would be an “ideal habitat”.<\/p>\n
She said: “We are following up on as many sightings as we feel are legitimate. <\/p>\n
“We have had some sightings that are a very, long way away, as far afield as Birmingham.<\/p>\n
“We are not following up on those ones because we know that’s not possible.<\/p>\n
“However if we think it’s a legitimate, realistic sighting we are following up on that.”<\/p>\n
She explained some of the sightings have been Muntjac deer which are about the same size and colour as capybaras. <\/p>\n
Efforts to find her<\/p>\n
As well as drones and camera traps being used, the zoo said: “We have been reviewing our use of humane traps. We do have some badger traps available that we have used in the past for vaccination programmes. <\/p>\n
“We know that she really likes melon or any strong smelling fruit. <\/p>\n
“So we are still debating and weighing up the operational considerations about whether to deploy those traps. <\/p>\n
“But that is another thing we can try in our resource bag of tools.”<\/p>\n
Coping in the wild <\/p>\n
Ms Read said: “We are not concerned in terms of her safety other than roads which we are really hoping she’s staying away from.<\/p>\n
“She’s got food, she’s got no natural predators and if she’s by the water that’s where she’ll feel her safest.<\/p>\n
“They are great swimmers, and they always hide in the water for safety and security in the wild.<\/p>\n
“We know as long as she’s not too cold, she’ll be ok.”<\/p>\n
She added: “The video we saw the other day she looked fairly relaxed and she looked fairly well in terms of body condition so that gave us quite a lot of reassurance that she’s coping alright and her natural instincts have kicked in.<\/p>\n
“The temperature is a little bit of a concern because it has got a lot colder over the last two days but she’s likely to have found somewhere to burrow into.”<\/p>\n
What if I spot Samba?<\/p>\n
Anybody who sees Samba is being asked to take a photo or video of her and call Marwell as soon as possible with a precise location.<\/p>\n
People are being asked not to approach her so she doesn’t get spooked and run away. <\/p>\n
Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below…<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s been nine days since Samba the capybara escaped from a Hampshire zoo and efforts to find her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-498532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}