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Animal Themes
Mammals
Freshwater

Capybaras

Capybaras
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.91

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    delicacy, hesitation, notorious, definitely, immediately, species, capybara, breed, vegetation, easily, lower, title, upper, clumsy, order, daily
     content words:    South America

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Capybaras   
1     Can you picture your pet guinea pig becoming 6 times longer and 50 times heavier? Well, believe it or not, there is an animal that looks just like a giant guinea pig! It is the capybara. Also known as the carpincho or the water hog, the capybara is so enormous - about 4 feet long, 2 feet tall, and over 100 pounds - that it easily wins the title of the world's largest rodent species.
 
2     Living along banks of rivers and lakes or in swamps and marshes of South America, capybaras have thin, coarse, brownish hair covering their squat, tailless bodies. Their eyes and ears are small. Their legs are short. Capybaras' feet are partially webbed, making them move clumsy on land but swift in the water. Capybaras have four toes on their front feet and three on their hind ones.
 
3     While capybaras carry out most of their daily activities on the ground, they dash into the water without hesitation at the first sight of danger. When capybaras swim, they reveal only their eyes, ears, and nostrils. If need be, capybaras can also submerge completely underwater and swim for a couple of minutes.

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
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