Capybara in the classroom

Survey Results:
Should animals have to earn their treats?
What are you complaining about?

1. She's not asking for anything that hard. (16 37%)
2. I thought animals celebrate Halloween every day. (2 4%)
3. If I could get my dog/cat/hamster to do that, you bet I would! (4 9%)
4. It's humiliating what she does to you. Come live with me. (10 23%)
5. You call that "earning?" When I was a pup/kitten/kid I had to balance a ball on my nose for a peanut! (11 25%)
   

43 votes total (no multiples)
Well, my readers are not very sympathetic to my plight. I am very disappointed.

Statistics:
Starting view count: 1888
Followers: 45

What a great day I had Monday! To start off, my owner stayed home for the day. I love it when she does 'cause we spend so much more time together. Then it was raining, which I love because of the mud potential. But the best part was that I got to go visit a school. I hadn't done that in a long time and I'd forgotten how fun it is.

Walking up to the school in the rain.

I went specifically to visit a fourth grade class where a student had done a science project on capybaras. What a lucky girl! It makes me wish I could really attend school instead of just visiting but I don't guess that's an option.

Sheldon, my owner and I all checked in at the school office and met our student's mother and her friend. Her friend fed me an apple. I don't know why my owner doesn't do that. Well, maybe because I wouldn't eat it last time she gave me one. But you have to keep trying.

Eating an apple in the office.

I made a big splash in the office. Naturally everyone loved me. Then we had to climb some stairs up to the classroom. I am surprisingly good at going up and down stairs. Once in the classroom, our student gave a short introduction to capybaras (good job, Skyler!). Then my owner did a question and answer session.

My introduction.
Look how cute and good I am being.

Here are some of her questions (answers at the bottom).

1. What are the major predators of capybaras?
2. Where do capybaras live in the wild?
3. What do capybaras eat?
4. What's special about capybara teeth?
5. What is the second largest rodent?
   

The kids loved answering the questions.

The kids did great and I think they learned a lot. The thing they learned the most was that capbyaras are not just the largest rodent in the world, we are also the cutest.

When it was almost time to go, the original class filed out and a new one filed in. They didn't get much time with me so I felt sorry for them. Then on the way out, we stopped to visit with an eighth grade class. We were in the front of the school so other kids wandered by and I got mobbed a little bit. But I kept my cool. My owner gave a bunch of kids fresh blueberries so I just kept searching from hand to hand to find them. Some kids stuck out their hands when they didn't have blueberries and that seemed a bit dishonest but I guess I can't blame them.

Here are the answers:

1. jaguars, anacondas, caiman, crocodiles, people
2. eastern South America
3. mainly grasses and water plants
4. like all rodents, capybaras have teeth that grow throughout their lives
5. beavers
   

Bookworm Rodent

Survey Results:
Are capybaras odd-looking?
1) No! The most magical-looking animals ever! (4 10%)
2) No! They are beautiful! (2 5%)
3) No! They are incredibly cute. (23 58%)
4) No! Those people at Animal Planet need to take that back! (2 5%)
5) No! Humans are the odd-looking ones. (8 20%)

39 Votes Total
I suppose I should be happy with these results but I can't help noticing the low number of votes for option 2. Why is that?

My owner is planning an "Caplin Rous on Animal Planet" party for me in Austin during the airing of my the Animal Planet episode with me in it. Drop a line to CaplinRous@gmail.com if you'd like to come.

Me with Jim Swift, literally "On the Porch"

If you follow my blog you know that my owner drags me all over the place. I don't know why she does this since she's always complaining about how slow I am. In fact, capybaras strive to be the largest and SLOWEST rodents. Most of our relations are very fast so I think we probably own that title.

Last Wednesday we had a very unusual outing. For one thing, it was the middle of the week and she didn't go to work. I suppose we both deserved an afternoon off after our shoot with Jim Swift from KXAN. (http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/Exotic_pet_provides_nature_lesson) Another strange thing was that we went north of the river.

For those of you who don't live in Central Texas, you might not know that the city of Austin is divided in half by the Colorado River. (No, not THAT Colorado River. A lesser river by the same name.) My owner and I live way south of the river in an area sometimes known as Bubba-land and other times as Buda. Same difference. Being Bubbas, we seldom venture to the north were the more sophisticated populace resides.

The Count of Monte Cristo. Submitted by D.J. Berson

On this trip, we actually went to the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, a strange place for a little capybara. Did you know people actually walk there? Stranger than that is the event we went to, the Edible Book Festival. Can you imagine? Edible books? Actually not so weird; I eat paper when I can. I've never eaten a book but the only thing stopping me is opportunity.

Love in the Time of Cauliflower. Submitted by Emily Vinson

The festival proved smaller than we had imagined with only seven edible books. One of the people there told us that it is normally held on a weekend when participation is higher. Nevertheless, the entries were interesting and we met a bunch of nice folks. At the festival, everyone pet me and took my photo. I tried to pose as photogenically as possible but the crowd prevented taking best advantage of the light. The edible books were quite creative so my owner and Sheldon--who is always dragged along as a capybara wrangler--had a good time.

On the Road. Submitted by Nicole Davis

We could have been entry eight since someone commented that if you put Sheldon next to me you have the Steinbeck book "Of Mice and Men." Since capybaras are eaten in South America (shudder!), I fulfilled the edible requirement.

The cover of my owner's soon-to-be-available-on-Amazon book.
It features a capybara named Caplynn Rous.

My owner wants to make a real entry next year, hopefully of the book she (sort-of) wrote about me. I don't know how she'll convert that to something edible though. And I am NOT going to be part of the entry.