world’s largest rodent species<\/a> and can weigh more than 100 pounds, according to the World Wildlife Fund. They are semi-aquatic and eat mostly plants and vegetables, though they are known to also snack on their own feces.<\/p>\nCapybaras give birth after a three- to four-month gestation period. Babies are fully mobile and can see after birth.<\/p>\n
“They come out perfect with teeth and hair,” Novak said. The pups, already on view, are still nursing from mom but will be nibbling grass and lettuce in about a week.<\/p>\n
Four are healthy and alert, but Novak said farm staff and veterinarians are closely monitoring a fifth pup who isn’t doing well.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to be supplementing the feeding because we’re not seeing that one eating, and giving it vitamins,” she said. “We hope this one makes it through.”<\/p>\n
Lily, a first time mom, is about\u00a02\u00bd years old and in good spirits, Novak said.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762755252_700_image\"\/)
<\/p>\n
The pups are expected to live at the game farm for at least a year before new homes are found for them. Credit: Tom Lambui<\/p>\n
The hours-old pups were settling in and exploring their new habitat Saturday. Mostly, they nuzzled and nursed and closely shadowed mom’s every footstep.<\/p>\n
“They’re like the Keystone Kops, running this way and that, and learning to follow their mom,” Novak said.<\/p>\n
The genders of the pups may not be known for months, Novak said, because they don’t show visible signs of their sex until reaching maturity.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the game farm plans to find new homes for some of the babies, though that’s not likely to happen for at least a year. The game farm has relationships with similar facilities across the country and may trade some of the capybaras, according to Novak.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, visitors can catch a glimpse of the pups in their exhibit, which underwent a $30,000 renovation over the summer that included a newly\u00a0insulated house, shaded area and new pond and waterfall. Farm admission ranges from $19.95 for children to $26.95 for adults, and toddlers under 2 are free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Long Island Game Farm is celebrating the arrival of five capybara babies born early Saturday morning. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,5478,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-282719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-suffolk","10":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}