There's nothing sweeter than good old animal stories. But today I will not talk about pets, but about those that live in tropical forests. In an ecosystem rainforest resides large quantity variety of animals than in any other ecosystem. One of the reasons for this great diversity is the constantly warm climate. Rainforests also provide an almost constant presence of water and a wide variety of food for animals. So here are 10 amazing rainforest animals and some facts about their lives.

toucans

Toucans can be found in South and Central America under the canopy of tropical forests. During sleep, toucans turn their heads and place their beaks under their wings and tail. Toucans are very important to the rainforest because they help spread the seeds from the fruits and berries they eat. There are about 40 various kinds toucans, but unfortunately some species are endangered. The two main threats to the existence of toucans are the loss of their habitat and the growing demand in the commercial pet market. They vary in size from about 15 centimeters to just over two meters. Large, colorful, light beaks - here distinctive features toucans. These are noisy birds with their loud and raspy voices.

flying dragons


Tree lizards, so-called flying dragons, actually glide from tree to tree on their skin flaps, which look like wings. On each side of the body, between the fore and hind limbs, there is a large flap of skin supported by expanded movable ribs. Usually these "wings" are folded along the torsos, but they can open up to allow the lizard to glide for many meters in an almost horizontal state. The flying dragon feeds on insects, in particular ants. For reproduction, the flying dragon descends to the ground and lays 1 to 4 eggs in the soil.

Bengal tigers


Bengal tiger lives in the Sundarbans regions of India, Bangladesh, China, Siberia and Indonesia, and is under serious threat of extinction. Today at wild nature about 4000 individuals remained, while at the turn of the century in 1900 there were more than 50 thousand. Poaching and habitat loss are the two main reasons for the declining numbers of Bengal tigers. They have not been able to adapt to harsh conditions, despite their belonging to the dominant species. Tigers, also known as the Royal Bengal Tiger, which is a subspecies of the tiger, can be found in the Indian subcontinent. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and is considered the second largest tiger in the world.

South American harpies


One of the largest and most powerful of the fifty species of eagles in the world, South American harpies live in the tropical lowland forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico south to eastern Bolivia, and southern Brazil to northern Argentina. This is a disappearing view. The main threat to its existence is habitat loss due to constant deforestation, destruction of nesting and hunting grounds.

Dart frogs


These are frogs found in the Central and South America. They are known for their bright colors that warn other animals that they are poisonous. Frog venom is one of the most powerful poisons known and can cause paralysis or death. It is so powerful that one millionth of 30 grams of poison can kill a dog, and less than a crystal of salt can kill a human. One frog has a supply of poison sufficient to send up to 100 people to the next world. Local hunters used poison for their arrows, from which the frog got its name in English language Poison-Arrow Frog (frog poisoned arrow).

Sloths


Sloths are extremely slow mammals that can be found in the rainforests of Central and South America. There are two types of sloths: two-toed and three-toed. Most sloths are about the size of a small dog. They have short, flat heads. Their fur is grey-brown, but sometimes they appear grey-green because they move so slowly that tiny camouflage plants have time to grow all over their fur. Sloths are nocturnal and sleep curled up with their heads between their arms and legs turned close together.

spider monkeys


Spider monkeys have big sizes. An adult monkey can grow to be almost 60 centimeters tall, not counting the tail. The tail is very powerful. Monkeys use it as an extra limb. Spider monkeys like to hang upside down, clinging to branches with their tail and paws, which makes them look like spiders, where they get their name from. Also, these monkeys can jump from branch to branch to high speed. Their coat color can be black, brown, gold, red or bronze. Spider monkeys are the object of close attention of hunters, which is why they are on the verge of extinction. This photo is probably your only chance to ever see this monkey. Not to mention our species...

wine snakes


Only about a centimeter in diameter, wine snakes are a surprisingly "slim", elongated species. If the snake lies among the branches forest trees, its proportions and green-brown color make it almost indistinguishable from dense creepers and vines. The head of a snake, just as thin and oblong. A slow-moving predator active during the day and at night, the wine snake feeds mainly on young birds, which it steals from nests, and on lizards. If the snake is threatened, it puffs up the front of its body, revealing the bright coloration that is normally hidden, and opens its mouth wide.

capybaras


The capybara spends a lot of time in the water and is an excellent swimmer and diver. She has webbed toes on her front and hind feet. When she swims, only her eyes, ears and nostrils are visible above the water. Capybaras feed on plant foods, including aquatic plants, and these animals' molars grow throughout their lives to counteract wear and tear from chewing. Capybaras live in families and are active at dawn and dusk. In areas where they are often disturbed, capybaras may be nocturnal. Males and females look the same, but males have a gland on their nose that is larger than females. They mate in the spring, and after 15-18 weeks of pregnancy, there may be 2 babies in the litter. Babies are well developed at birth.

Brazilian tapirs


Brazilian tapirs can almost always be found near bodies of water. These animals are good swimmers and divers, but they also move quickly on the ground, even on rough and highlands. Tapirs are dark brown in color. Their coat is short, and a mane grows down from the back of the neck. Thanks to the mobile snout, the tapir feeds on leaves, buds, shoots and small branches that the tapir cuts off trees, as well as fruits, herbs and aquatic plants. The female gives birth to one spotted-striped baby after a pregnancy that lasts from 390 to 400 days.

longest neck

At the very beginning of our century, in the jungles of Africa, they found a "living fossil" okapi - relatives of the giraffe, which was considered extinct long ago. Okapi is no bigger than a donkey. And he has a short neck. And it eats, like a giraffe, grass and leaves. The common ancestor of the giraffe and the okapi was similar to a short-necked short man. But over time, some of these animals moved to the open expanses of the savannah, where it was possible to “graze” enough only on the tops of trees. Therefore, animals with a long neck survived. Gradually, the giraffe grew such long neck, which became completely different from its distant ancestor. And the okapi remained a copy of his great-grandfather.

Gorillas are the largest great apes also live in Africa. The gorilla in the jungle has almost no enemies, except for people, of course. Most of the day, gorillas are on the ground, not in trees like other monkeys. Gorillas are vegetarians. They eat leaves, fruits, tree bark. But in zoos, gorillas very quickly get used to other foods, they begin to eat meat and fish, drink milk.


Cat relatives

Our domestic cat has 37 relatives. These are forest and reed cats, lynxes and manuls, servals and ocelots, snow leopards and leopards, jaguars and cougars, snow leopards, panthers and cheetahs, tigers, lions and other wild cats. Cats are the most dexterous predators. All wild cats hunt in approximately the same way: they sneak up on their prey, then freeze in anticipation. And having chosen a convenient moment, they overtake their victim with one throw. However, our domestic cat hunts mice in the same way as the African leopard hunts antelopes.

Margarita Enyakina

Summary of GCD on the topic:

"Trip to the jungle" in the senior group

Integration educational areas: cognitive development, Speech development, Socially communication development, Physical development

Tasks:

Educational:

1. Form ideas about the jungle as one of the climatic zones of Africa

2. Fix ideas about African animals: monkey, elephant, leopard

3. Arouse interest in further study of the mainland

Developing:

1. Develop logical thinking, memory, intelligence

2. Develop speech activity ability to express and prove one's point of view

3. Develop motor skills and abilities

Educational:

1. Cultivate the ability to independently unite and play a variety of games

Methods and techniques:

Visual: presentation, pictures, map

Verbal: story, questions, riddle, logical tasks

Gaming: Didactic game“Who lives in the jungle?”, outdoor games “Monkeys”, “Leopards”

Material and equipment:

Multimedia equipment, pictures of animals of Africa and other continents, a map of Africa, two markers and two white sheets for the Leopards outdoor game, a picture of a suitcase and chips

Logics educational activities:

Organizing time:

The teacher rings the bell and invites the children:

Here comes my bell

Invites everyone to the circle

1h Introductory

Guys, do you like to travel?

I invite you on a journey to an amazing mainland, and guess which one.

The mainland lies large

Very hot and dry

It's summer all year round

Who will call me? (Africa)

(The teacher hangs up a map of Africa.)

Activity motivation:

Guys, let's take a suitcase of knowledge on our journey. (The teacher hangs a picture of a suitcase) and fill it with knowledge.

2h. Main

What do you think climate zone Africa is the most mysterious, enigmatic and beautiful? (jungle)

Today the jungle will reveal its secrets to you.

Reviewing presentation slides

The jungle is an impenetrable forest. A solid wall of trees, shrubs, grass intertwined with vines of different lengths. Creepers uproot trees, climb up, get mixed up with the foliage of other trees and obscure the sun.

Therefore, below, where the sun's rays do not fall: dampness, twilight, suffocating air, it's hard to breathe. Everything here is disturbing and frightening. Poisonous snakes, insects, predators threaten a person at every turn.

Who do you think is the scariest in the jungle? (children's answers)

It turns out the most terrible - ants. Entire hordes attack travelers. X bites are poisonous.

Do you think it is possible to walk in the jungle? (children's answers)

You can't walk in the jungle like in our forest. Can't get through without an axe. Only the strong and knowledgeable can travel.

Fizminutka

This is a lion - he is the king of beasts

In the world there is no stronger walking in a circle

And funny monkeys

Rocked all the vines tilts to the sides

And here is a kind smart elephant

Sends a bow to everyone bending forward

The leopard jumps so nicely

Like our favorite ball jumps

Zebra head shakes

He invites you to tilt his head forward - backward

Didactic game "Who lives in the jungle?"

Guys, look how many different animals are here. Choose only animals living in the African jungle. (children choose, prove and arrange pictures on an easel)

What animal looks like a human? (monkey)

Logic task:

Can a monkey live in the desert? (no, because the monkey eats leaves, flowers, fruits, tree buds, and they do not grow in the desert)

What does monkey like to do? (climb vines, jump, somersault)

Mobile game "Monkeys"

(Children stand in a circle. They are monkeys. The driver is chosen. The driver shows different movements, and the monkeys repeat after him.)


What is the longest-nosed animal (Elephant)

Why does an elephant need a trunk? (Drinks, eats, pours water on himself, carries loads)

The trunk is a nose that has grown together with upper lip. At the end of the nose are nostrils and grasping protrusions, like fingers.

Whom the elephant is afraid of (Mice. Mice can get into the trunk at night, gnaw it)

Which animal is the fastest? (Leopard)

What does a leopard look like? (on a cat)

Leopard - wild cat with a long tail and powerful legs. Leopards live alone. During the day they rest on the branches of trees, and at night they go hunting.

How is leopard fur dyed? (Black spots all over this body)

Mobile game "Leopards"

(Children are divided into two teams. Two leopards are selected. They are attached to their backs White list paper. On command. Children run to their leopard and draw spots on it. After the game, the spots are counted. The team that draws the most spots wins.)


3h. Final

This is how our journey ended.

It's time to say goodbye to Africa and fill our briefcase with knowledge.

Reflection:

Tell us what new and interesting things you learned today? (Children answer and put chips in the suitcase)

Outcome:

Guys, it was very interesting for me to travel with you.

We will learn a lot more about Africa.

Related publications:

Correctional and educational goals: - to enrich lexicon, develop speech, the ability to coherently and consistently compose a story based on.

Synopsis of GCD on physical development in the younger group "The Jungle is Calling" Synopsis of directly educational activities in junior group Topic: "Physical development" Name: "The jungle is calling" Age of pupils:.

Approximate basic general education program: Comprehensive program "From birth to school" edited by N. E. Veraksa, T. S. Komarova,.

Purpose: to consolidate the ability to retell piece of art using the modeling method, teach children to answer in full sentences.

Synopsis of a walk in the middle group "Journey to the autumn forest" Purpose: development motor activity on a walk; strengthening children's knowledge about autumn changes in nature, the development of observation,.

    Live in the jungle

    1. Monkey.
    2. Gorillas.
    3. Papuans.
    4. Indians.
    5. snakes.
    6. Spiders.
    7. Poisonous insects.
    8. Termites.
    9. Boa.
    10. Sloths.
    11. Parrot.
    12. Jaguar.
    13. Tiger.
    14. Monkeys.
    15. Mowgli.
    16. Panther.
    17. Banderlog.
    18. Ants.
    19. bees.
    20. Wild pigs.

  • The correct answers to the game 100 to 1 to the question Who lives in ...?:

    The most popular answer in the jungle lives - Mowgli- seventy-two points;

    In second place, the correct answer lives in the jungle - monkey- forty-two points;

    In third place, the correct answer is Tarzan- thirty-four points;

    In fourth place, the answer lives in the jungle - a lion- fourteen points; 4

    In fifth place, the answer is - tiger- sixteen points;

    In sixth place, the correct answer is - elephant lives in the jungle - eight points.

    It makes me want to scream out Russian President— banderlogs!

    But the correct one would be:

    MOWGLI

    In the forests with Mowgli live:

    MONKEY

    And of course it happens:

    TARZAN

    In addition to these representatives of our fauna, zhuvut live in the forest:

    SNAKE

    Of all the monkeys, the most:

    MACAKE

    And how will the forest do without:

    TIGER

    And here is probably a mistake, how can it live in the jungle:

    ELEPHANT

    And the very last inhabitant of the jungle:

    PARROT

  • 100 to 1 game.

    Who can live in the jungle? Probably the Papuans can definitely live there.

    Animals such as tigers, monkeys, snakes, various insects can also live there.

    Indians, too, probably can live in the jungle. A city dweller in the jungle will definitely not be able to live.

    An excellent question from the famous and popular game 100 to 1 and we have to answer the question of who can live in the jungle. And most likely every player knows this answer. Because we studied and studied it in geography. And of course, many people live in the jungle various animals.

    And in order to pass the level, we must answer as follows:

    Mowgli is a famous character from a fairy tale

    Monkey - many species of them live there

    Tarzan - he lived there and jumped on the vines

    The lion is the king of the beasts of the jungle

    The tiger is a very beautiful animal from there.

    The elephant is a powerful animal and resides in the jungle.

    Answer like this and collect your reward points at this level in the game, good luck.

    And, what, actually difference, lives or lives. People usually answer, all the same, what they have is associated with creatures that can be found in the jungle. This:

    • Monkey.
    • Parrots.
    • Crocodiles.
    • Behemoths.
    • Elephants.
    • Tigers.
    • snakes.

  • Tarzan lives in the jungle.

    Mowgli lives in the jungle.

    Monkeys live in the jungle.

    Porcupines live in the jungle.

    Tigers live in the jungle.

    Lemurs live in the jungle.

    Crocodiles live in the jungle;

    Elephants live in the jungle.

    1) Monkeys

    4) insects

    Answer the question Who lives in the jungle? V the most popular game 100 to 1 people were offered the following options:

    2. Monkeys

    8. Parrot

    Good luck with this game!

    Mowgli lives in the jungle. Monkeys can live in the jungle. Tarzan may live there. It is possible that there are snakes in the jungle. You can also note the option about macaques. The tiger lives in the jungle. Other options in the game: elephant and parrot.

    First of all, a wonderful comedy comes to mind Hello, I'm your aunt, in which they discussed the jungles of Brazil, where many, many wild monkeys live.

    But among the most popular answers, monkeys were only on the second line:

    monkey

    To correctly answer this question and be the winner in the 100 to 1 game, you must offer the following options as answers:

    monkey;

    It is these species that are most often found in the jungle according to the respondents.

    In the 100 to 1 game, when answering the question of who lives in the jungle, the following versions of answers should be given:

    • 40 points - Mowgli(the hero of Kipling's book and many cartoons based on this book),
    • 80 points - monkeys,
    • 120 points - Tarzan,
    • 160 points - snakes,
    • 200 points - macaques,
    • 240 points - tiger,
    • 280 points - elephant,
    • 320 points - parrot.

  • I would answer that Papuans, parrots, blacks, tarantulas, all sorts of sores live in the jungle., Chinese, monkeys, dragons :-), but the correct answers.


    You can spend the whole day in the untouched jungle and not see a single animal larger than a mouse. There are really few of them here. Especially few big ones.

    By weight, animals make up only 0.02 percent of the total forest biomass. This is 2-3 times less than the similar ratio for the entire total biomass Earth. In absolute terms, about 200 kilograms per hectare, and not less than a third of the animals rainforest(again by weight) lives in soil and litter.

    But you need to keep in mind that hiding in the jungle is not at all difficult. There are so many suitable shelters for this! In addition, many animals lead a twilight or nocturnal lifestyle, showing their activity only in pitch darkness.

    The story of the okapi testifies to how difficult it is to see the inhabitants of the jungle. This huge beast, the closest relative of giraffes, with almost the same long legs and neck, which the natives of the virgin forest knew well, skillfully hid from the eyes of Europeans until 1901. Only thanks to the efforts of the pygmies, hurt to the quick by distrust of their stories about amazing inhabitant thickets, the Royal Zoological Society in London received a skin and two skulls of a mysterious invisible man. However, in the next 80 years, only a few jungle explorers were lucky enough to see okapi in the wild.

    The life of any forest animal is necessarily connected with a tree. This connection is especially noticeable in the jungle. Almost all of their inhabitants live on trees - on trunks and in crowns, in last resort huddle near the roots in the forest litter and in the soil, but few build burrows on their own or use them constantly. Among land animals, only a few are not able to climb trees. Tropical wilds are the domain of the most skilled climbers.

    In front of large land animals unable to climb into upper floors, there are two important issues: how to move in the chaos of thickets and what to eat here. Large creatures need significant amounts of food, and there is not much on the ground floor.

    The problem of movement is even more difficult. Of the large animals, the live bulldozer, a huge forest elephant, is best adapted to life in the impenetrable jungle. Destroying everything in its path, a herd of giants is able to break through any thickets, maneuvering among huge trunks, which also serve as an insurmountable obstacle for them.

    However, even elephants gravitate towards forest edges, clearings, grassy, ​​regularly flooded meadow lowlands off the coast. forest rivers and streams. Like other inhabitants of the jungle, they need sunbathing, especially baby elephants, otherwise they may develop rickets.

    There are few ungulates in the rain forests. There are no animals here crowned with such spreading horns as our European red deer and elk. With such an ornament on your head, you will not make your way through the thicket. Mazama, or pointed deer, living in Central and South America, wear small straight horns on their heads. The American pudú's horns are so small that they do not protrude from the thick coat. The deer themselves are also small. The growth of various types of mazam varies from a large hare to a small fallow deer. The common pudu is a dwarf, 30-35 centimeters high and weighing 7-10 kilograms.

    Of the 14 species of African crested duikers, peculiar forest antelopes, 12 prefer to live in tropical rainforests. Their slightly curved back horns only slightly rise above the high crest of thick wool growing between them. A baby antelope has horns no more than 10 centimeters, and a very miniature dwarf antelope, barely reaching a quarter meter at the withers, has very tiny horns - only 1.5-2 centimeters.

    Among the few exceptions markhorn antelope. In bushbucks, helically twisted horns can reach a length of 55 centimeters, and in larger bongos - a meter. But they are directed back and do not interfere with wading through the thickets. Moreover, on the run, antelopes throw their heads back. How often bongos have to do this is evidenced by the bald patches on the back, behind the shoulder blades, rubbed with horns.

    Most ungulates of the dense rainforest are pygmies compared to their relatives from other areas of the planet. The jungle is characterized by deer and antelopes the size of a small dog. Small kanchil, a resident of the island jungles of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java, is as tall as a rabbit and runs on thin, pencil-like legs, and weighs 2-2.5 kilograms. He is nocturnal and seems timid and defenseless. At the slightest danger, the deer dissolves in dense thickets, but if a predator overtakes it, it bites desperately, inflicting serious wounds on the enemy. Dwarfism is an adaptation to dense thickets. It is characteristic of bulls, bears and other animals.

    The red subspecies of the African buffalo, which lives in the jungle, will pass for the calf of its huge black counterpart living in the savannah. The height of the baby is 100-130 centimeters, and it weighs four times less. Even smaller is the anoa dwarf buffalo from the forests of Sulawesi. His height is 60-100 centimeters. These gobies have short, backward-curving horns, while those of the black African buffalo form an intricate figure eight on the head of the animal, and the distance between their tips can reach a meter. The same conditions of existence caused unidirectional adaptations: similarly affected appearance most jungle ungulates and demanded their miniaturization, which affected not only the body, but also the horns.

    The same applies to bears. If we compare the size of the animals living in the open plains and in various forests, it is easy to see that they gradually become smaller as the forests become denser. Polar polar bear weighs up to a ton. Almost as large is the subspecies of the brown land bear from Kodiak Island, off the coast of Alaska. In the forests of our country brown bears rarely reach a weight of 750 kilograms, more often they are much less. The Himalayan bear, more closely related to the tree, is never heavier than 140-150 kilograms. The North American baribal, South Asian sloth and South American spectacled bears are slightly smaller. And the smallest Malay bear, or biruang, is just a baby, weighing up to 65 kilograms! It lives in tropical rainforests and spends most of the day in the trees. It sleeps or feeds on leaves, fruits and all living creatures.

    Among the ungulates of the tropical rainforest, tapirs are the most peculiar. These large creatures weighing up to 300 kilograms resemble pigs in their appearance, ideally adapted for life in the thickets. They have relatively short legs and an elongated body, so that the animals at the withers do not exceed 1 meter. The elongated muzzle and narrow-browed head allow tapirs to easily fit into any spaces between branches. A torpedo-shaped torso with a narrow shoulder girdle, slightly widening towards the pelvic region, which is dressed in thick skin covered with short, smooth hair, allows it to squeeze through the thicket. Like elephants, tapirs gravitate to open glades, mainly to the banks of water bodies. Animals love to spend hot time in the water. On the territory occupied by tapirs, a system of paths and manholes is created, which animals use daily. However, if the owner of the site is attacked by a jaguar, the only predator dangerous to an adult animal, the tapir turns off the well-found path and dives into the thicket. Here the peace-loving beast gets some advantages, and this often saves his life.

    It is much more difficult to live in the okapi jungle. The younger brother of the long-necked giraffe is unable to dissolve in the thickets, like tapirs and small deer. Okapi are extremely attached to thickets, and they prefer not to use wide lanes and open glades. To pave the way in the wilds, they have only one device - a massive chest, slightly hanging over their front legs. This allows the animal to bring down the entire weight of its body on the obstacle, and the head raised high and pushed forward makes it possible to look behind the obstacle and assess how it can be overcome.

    Pigs are well adapted to life in the jungle. In the mountain forests of Africa, a large forest pig lives, discovered only in 1904. This is the largest representative of the pig family. Bush-eared or river pigs are more widespread - large beautiful animals of bright yellow color, with a white mane-strap on the back, with white sideburns and tassels on the ears. Unlike most forest ungulates, bush pigs live in herds, sometimes up to 100 heads, but are so wary that it is difficult to meet them in the jungle.

    The bearded pig, so named for the abundant thickets of light bristles covering its muzzle, lives in the jungles of the Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and the small islands of the Indian Ocean. It is the size of a European boar and also lives in families and herds. On the island of Sulawesi, the babirussa lives, an almost hairless pig of medium size, with two pairs of large fangs, bent back and intended only for decoration. The lower pair takes its place between the teeth of the lower jaw. The upper one does not grow from the mouth, but sticks out right on the muzzle. In old males, their tips almost reach the forehead or bend 180 degrees and grow back into the skin of the snout. In the shape of the upper fangs, there is a clear analogy with the horns of forest ungulates.

    The body shape and mass of large pigs and tapirs proved to be successful for life in the jungle. With such dimensions, they still do not get stuck in the weaves of vines, and their solid weight allows them to break through the thickets.

    The dimensions of the pygmy hippopotamus are approximately the same. Pygmy again! Its height at the withers does not exceed 80 centimeters. It is sized with big pig, and weighing 10 times lighter than its large relative. The "baby" lives in the tropical forests of the Niger Delta. Adapting to life in the wilds, he not only changed his dimensions, but borrowed the most typical forms of behavior from the indigenous inhabitants of the forest. Animals do not gather in herds, but live alone or in pairs, are less connected with water and trample paths in coastal bushes.

    Most tree rodents in the process of adaptation, like other mammals of the jungle, turned into pygmies. Let's take protein as an example. In the mountainous jungles of Panama, spread out on the slopes of the Chiriqui volcano, live bright red pygmy squirrels about 15 centimeters in size. In the thickets of the Amazon basin, midge squirrels with a body length of 10-11 live, and in South Asia, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and other Indo-Pacific islands, crumb squirrels are only 7–10 centimeters tall.

    Some terrestrial rodents adapted to the wilds by increasing their size. It is in the tropical rainforests that the largest representatives of this order live. There are very few of them. The largest is the capybara, or capybara. Externally, the animals exact copy guinea pigs, magnified 10 times. Males reach 1.5 meters in length and weigh 60-70 kilograms. The body is covered with long dense brown bristles, which protect the skin well from numerous spines.

    Capybaras do not like hermitage, are very sociable and live in groups, sometimes quite large. On the paws, between the fingers, the capybara has swimming membranes, so it, like tapirs, swims and dives. It is not surprising that capybaras settle along the banks of rivers and other bodies of water. Most of all, capybaras like areas of the coastline covered with tall grass, which they feed on.

    Two other giant rodents - paka and agouti - outwardly resemble large rabbits, only their ears are short. They are much smaller than the capybara, but they are similar to the habits of the pi, swim well, and the paca can even dive. In case of danger, the animals rush to the water and plop down there with a terrible noise, which for the rest of the group serves as a signal of extreme danger.

    These are the requirements in the jungle for the shape and size of animals that cannot climb trees. It is not advantageous to be neither too big nor too small. For life in the wilds is good golden mean. Apparently, the size of the body in the range from agouti (up to 50 centimeters long) to capybaras and large pigs does not yet impose serious restrictions on movement in the dense thickets of the rainforest, but sharply reduces the number natural enemies. After all, there are few large predators, so capybaras, pigs and tapirs have almost no enemies. This is where dwarfism among traditionally large animals and gigantism in small fry arose.