Editing Capybara (section)

===Diet and predation===
[[File:Capybara Eating Hay 11 11 2018.jpg|thumb|A capybara eating hay at [[Franklin Park Zoo]], Boston, Massachusetts]]

Capybaras are [[herbivore]]s, grazing mainly on grasses and [[aquatic plants]],<ref name="Smithsonian"/><ref name="RevBiolTrop"/> as well as fruit and tree bark.<ref name="Palm Beach Zoo"/> They are very selective feeders<ref name="Quintana 1998"/> and feed on the leaves of one species and disregard other species surrounding it. They eat a greater variety of plants during the dry season, as fewer plants are available. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to more abundant reeds during the dry season.<ref name="Barreto 1998"/> Plants that capybaras eat during the summer lose their nutritional value in the winter, so they are not consumed at that time.<ref name="Quintana 1998"/> The capybara's jaw hinge is not perpendicular, so they chew food by grinding back-and-forth rather than side-to-side.<ref name="SFZoo"/> Capybaras are [[coprophagous|autocoprophagous]],<ref name="taronga-zoo"/> meaning they eat their own feces as a source of bacterial [[gut flora]], to help digest the [[cellulose]] in the grass that forms their normal diet, and to extract the maximum protein and vitamins from their food. They also regurgitate food to masticate again, similar to cud-chewing by cattle.<ref name="taronga-zoo">{{cite web |title=Meet Taronga's Capybaras |url=https://taronga.org.au/sydney-zoo/must-see/capybaras |website=Taronga Zoo |access-date=29 December 2021 |ref=taronga-zoo}}</ref><ref name="Lord-Rexford 1994"/> Like other rodents, a capybara's front teeth grow continually to compensate for the constant wear from eating grasses;<ref name="Bristol"/> their cheek teeth also grow continuously.<ref name="SFZoo"/> 

Like its relative the guinea pig, the capybara does not have the capacity to synthesize [[vitamin C]], and capybaras not supplemented with vitamin C in captivity have been reported to develop [[Periodontal disease|gum disease]] as a sign of [[scurvy]].<ref name=r2/>

The maximum lifespan of the capybara is 8 to 10 years,<ref name=r6/> but in the wild capybaras usually do not live longer than four years because of predation from South American [[big cats]] such as [[jaguar]]s and [[cougar]]s and from non-mammalian predators such as [[harpy eagle]]s, [[caiman]]s, [[Eunectes murinus|green anaconda]]s and [[piranha]]s.<ref name="Bristol"/><ref name="SoundsandColours"/>