Editing Capybara (section)

===Reproduction===
[[File:Young capybaras.jpg|thumb|left|Mother with typical litter of about four pups]]
When in [[estrus]], the female's scent changes subtly and nearby males begin pursuit.<ref name="Herrera 1993">{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/beheco/4.2.114|title= Aggression, dominance, and mating success among capybara males (''Hydrochaeris hypdrochaeris'')|year=1993|last1=Herrera|first1=Emilio A.|last2=MacDonald|first2=David W.|journal=[[Behavioral Ecology (journal)|Behavioral Ecology]]|volume=4|issue=2|page=114}}</ref> In addition, a female alerts males she is in estrus by whistling through her nose.<ref name="Lord-Rexford 1994"/> During mating, the female has the advantage and mating choice. Capybaras mate only in water, and if a female does not want to mate with a certain male, she either submerges or leaves the water.<ref name="Lord-Rexford 1994"/><ref name="Macdonald 1981"/> Dominant males are highly protective of the females, but they usually cannot prevent some of the subordinates from copulating. The larger the group, the harder it is for the male to watch all the females. Dominant males secure significantly more matings than each subordinate, but subordinate males, as a class, are responsible for more matings than each dominant male.<ref name="Herrera 1993"/> The lifespan of the capybara's sperm is longer than that of other rodents.<ref name=r1/> Capybara [[gestation]] is 130–150 days, and produces a litter of four young on average, but may produce between one and eight in a single litter.<ref name=r4/> Birth is on land and the female rejoins the group within a few hours of delivering the newborn capybaras, which join the group as soon as they are mobile. Within a week, the young can eat grass, but continue to suckle—from any female in the group—until weaned around 16 weeks. The young form a group within the main group.<ref name="Bristol"/> [[Alloparenting]] has been observed in this species.<ref name="Macdonald 1981"/> Breeding peaks between April and May in Venezuela and between October and November in [[Mato Grosso]], Brazil.<ref name=r4/>