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Problem - Maintaining the habitat of the capybara and breeding them for meat. The capybara (shown left 10) is currently classified as a common species in the 2000 IUCN Red List of threatened species. However, I have found through research that the number of capybara in the wild is declining, "Mortality from hunting is responsible for local extinctions or scarcity in many localities”.1 Also this is confirmed by the statistic, "Today barely 100,000 capybaras are left in Venezuela”. 2 The classification of the capybara as 'common' also means that people are unaware of the affect hunting will, and is having on the population of capybara living in the wild. The conservation of the capybara is overlooked by most people as it is considered a pest, due to its tendency to raid crops when fresh grazing is not available. But this unavailability of fresh grazing is caused by humans! The capybara has a great variety of habitats from forest and brush land to swamps, brackish mangrove areas and open savannah. The habitat needs to have all the components of water, dry ground on which to rest, grass and natural shelter1. These habitats are being destroyed by human activities, such as pollution of freshwater and the drainage of wetlands for agricultural use of the fertile soil, causing damage to the environment where the capybara seeks refuge from predators. Water is being abstracted for human usage increasing the threat to freshwater habitats. Efforts to protect wetlands have now produced several international agreements. Another habitat being destroyed is the grasslands, in the past grassland covered about two fifths of the earth's land surface 3.This grassland is being destroyed for agricultural use for growing crops or raising livestock. However, farming has created grassland; the hill pastures of Europe and New Zealand, for example, are a result of deforestation several centuries ago 3.This old pasture has a larger range of plants and vegetation, which nutritionally benefits the capybara and several other animals. But there is more destruction of habitat occurring than being created. Farmers benefit from destroying the habitats of these animals economically, through the gain of more land and the reduction in the number of capybara. This is because the capybara can destroy crops, but if there are less capybara the damage will be smaller and less frequent. With more land the farmer can grow a larger amount of crops or raise a larger livestock to gain more money. This in my opinion is a simplistic view; the capybara may be a less appealing animal to many people. But it is important to take into account that the depletion and extinction of species is reducing the earth's biodiversity. This change disrupts ecological links, resulting in ecological instability which will in turn come to affect the human. Conservation of the capybara. Another major threat to the capybara is hunting by humans for meat and oil from the subcutaneous fat, which is a popular medicine in southern South America (distribution of capybara shown left http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Capybararange.png ). The hides are used to make gloves, belts, leatherjackets, handbags, harnesses and saddles. These products are sold on by the hunters who only receive a bare subsistence wage. So economically there is the problem that if the hunting was stopped the hunters would lose their already very small wage. Also the small wage means the hunter has to kill a larger number of the capybara to gain money to feed his family, if the wage was increased there would be less carnage. Socially many people have different views on the hunting of capybara; in countries where capybara meat is popular such as Venezuela, the general view point is that the meat is a delicacy and "they contend that eating capybara, which is a cousin of the guinea pig, shouldn't make people squeamish." 2 Where as other people would be completely against the idea morally as killing a wild animal is wrong when we already have food resources from cattle. I believe that the hunting and killing of capybara is highly unethical due to the way in which the hunting and killing is carried out. The hunting takes place along Forest Rivers where the capybara take refuge and dogs are used to drive the capybara to shore or into water where they are shot or harpooned. They are hunted at night using canoes and caught in pitfalls dug. This means a very large number die due to hunting as there is little chance of escape for such a large and vulnerable animal. In Llanos of Columbia and Venezuela the capybara are hunted commercially during the dry season on the open savannah. They are easily located in the open area, rounded up and driven by mounted hunters to a prearranged spot. Here they are surrounded and the adults with cubs are slaughtered. This slaughter can be as many as 200 animals a day. They are either gutted in the field or transported to a camp or slaughter house. 1 All of which are cruel and highly stressful to the animals. Another increase in the demand for capybara meat was caused by the Roman Catholic Church, which demands that its adherents forgo the consumption of any form of meat besides fish during Lent. Capybara meat is similar to richer meats such as chicken and pork. The Europeans who discovered this submitted a petition to the Church. The semiaquatic capybara spends most of its day in the water, so they argued that it should be considered a fish (see left http://www.earlham.edu/~martilu/capypicinh2o.gif ). Despite the fact that the capybara is of no relation to the fish, the Roman Catholic Church agreed to call it a fish and ever since hundreds of people have eaten capybara during Lent. Now ranchers find it profitable to harvest and sell capybara meat in addition to their normal harvest of cattle and caiman during Lent. Almost 80 tons of capybara meat is collected annually, most of it during or immediately preceding Lent. However, some action has been taken against this hunting and the decline in the number of capybara was noted by the Ministry of the Environment, and Capybara hunting is currently either regulated or proscribed in most Latin American countries. In Venezuela, commercial hunting is allowed, but only in accordance with the following principles: 1. The management units are the livestock farms of the llanos region 2. Licenses are granted only to owners with exploitable populations on their farms. 3. The harvest quotas are established on the basis of population sizes on each farm, determined by officials of the Ministry of the Environment. 4. A harvest rate of about 30% is applicable, which experience since 1968 has shown will maintain a fairly stationary population. 5. The minimum weight is 35kg. 6. Each slab of meat is marked with a safety seal indicating the point of origin and facilitating controls. 7. A bill of lading is required for transporting the product to market. 8. Fees are levied during transfer by the National Guard and occasionally in the market place. Between 1979 and 1984, 56 to 106 licenses were granted each year. 75-89% resulted in capybara capture, for a total harvest rate of 60 000-80 000 per year. Subsequently populations fell so much that the Ministry of the Environment enacted a much more restrictive policy. 1 Capybaras are also kept in captivity at zoos, but I believe that keeping the capybara in captivity could promote inbreeding, because there would be less distribution of the animal than there is in the wild. Cross-breeding two inbred lines can typically produce a hybrid that is more vigorous than either parent, known as hybrid vigour. The offspring are heterozygous at many loci. 4 However, Inbreeding depression occurs when closely related individuals breed, causing higher risk for the offspring inheriting two copies of harmful recessive alleles (see genetic diagram below). This inbreeding can cause mutations and increase the likelihood of inheriting diseases because there are less possible combinations of alleles to produce the gene. It could also lead to changes in the capybara and the way it is adapted to survive in its natural habitat, for example, a mutation causing the capybara to lose their webbed feet (see left for webbed feet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Capybara_Hattiesburg_Zoo_(70909b-58)_2560x1600.jpg ) so they can no longer swim as efficiently or have a different coating of hair. If these mutations entered the gene pool then the capybara would soon die out in the wild, as they would no longer have the ability to stay in the water for long periods of time to take refuge from predators. However, at the moment, zoos are preventing the inbreeding of the capybara by the use of a studbook. This is a log of all data on the capybara in all the zoos, containing all their details. Each animal has its own unique number; this number can be used to check that when breeding the animal it is not breed with a relative, as I found from asking a keeper at the zoo. Selective breeding: in captivity. Genetic diagram Key Let A = Webbed feet (normal allele) Let a = Not webbed feet (mutant allele) Phenotype – Webbed feet x Webbed feet (parents have webbed feet but carry the allele for non webbed feet) Genotype – Aa x Aa Gametes – A, a, A, a Gametes A a A AA Aa a Aa aa The blue shading shows the possible genotypes of the offspring. Notice how there will be a 1 in 4 chance of the offspring not having webbed feet. On the other hand, captive breeding could be an alternative to the hunting of wild capybara. This could ensure that the capybara in the wild maintain population and prevent them being hunted or being removed from the wild, as I think that they could be farmed for meat. The capybara could be bred like cows and other farmed animals which would mean the hunters could gain a real job farming the capybara and economically benefit. This intensive breeding was trialled in 5ha flood savannah meadows and it was discovered that breeding at higher densities than a net annual production of 27kg/ha was unsustainable, as the grasses were trampled during the flood period. 1 Economically the cost of fencing to contain the capybara in the area is the limiting factor in extensive capybara breeding. To improve the cost/benefit ratio an area with more floodplains, raised areas, woodland and bodies of water would be advised. 1 I believe that this would provide more land area for the capybara to have a good quality of life and resemble more closely their natural habitat. Therefore the farming of capybara would be more ethical as the capybara would not be in cages or confined to small spaces, but in a fenced off large meadow. In the future these farms of capybara could become more common, as there has been an increase in the demand for the raw materials from capybara, particularly meat. So in order to meet demand, a capybara farmer could selectively breed the capybara to produce animals with desired features, such as a larger muscle bulk so more meat can be made from one animal so less are killed. This would be done by breeding together two capybara with the most muscle bulk and continuing this breeding over many generations. It may be that in the future it is common visit the supermarket and purchase capybara meat, with the meat already being used in Argentina and Uruguay for sausage-making. 1 McDonalds is currently under pressure by the public to produce healthier foods and I think that in the future they will use capybara meat as a healthier alternative for making its burgers. As capybara meat is lower in fat due to their diet consisting mainly of grass. "They have just 1.5% fat content in their meat, compared with up to 20% for cows.2"Also they would have less problems with religious communities such as Catholics as I already mentioned, who cannot eat meat around Lent, so McDonalds would gain more customers. Evaluation of the relative validity of the information I gathered from different sources. Sources 1 and 2: I found that the capybara is currently classified as a common species in the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. But I did further research after finding that the capybara is being hunted, as I realised that this would definitely have an affect on the population of capybara in the wild. And as I had expected I found that the hunting was causing "local extinctions or scarcity in many localities)" on the website www.fao.org/docrep/T0750E/t0750eOo.htm .But I felt that this wasn't sufficient evidence as this website might not be valid, because this was another person's research and I wanted to carry out my own. So to support my argument, this is, that classifying the capybara as common, causes people to be unaware that the number of capybara in the wild is declining as a result of the hunting. I found the statistic, "Today barely 100,000 capybaras are left in Venezuela.2" On the website www.rebsig.com/capybara/capymeat.html . Sources 1 and 3: These were finding information about the environment in which the capybara live and the destruction of this environment. I found out about the natural habitat of the Capybara by using three different sources and they all agreed with each other. The information I quoted was taken from www.fao.org/docrep/T0750E/t0750eOo.htm but I checked this with the information stated in Animal, an animal fact book and the information was very similar and also with the information I found on an information board next to the capybara enclosure at Chester zoo. In this book I also took the information, "farming has created grassland, the hill pastures of Europe and New Zealand, for example are a result of deforestation several centuries ago3"which is reliable because it is common in farming to cut down trees to make land for crops or livestock. "In the past grassland covered about two fifths of the earth's land surface. This grassland is being destroyed for agricultural use 3" was also taken from Animal and I knew this information is correct, as there has been an increase in farming, due to increased demand by a larger population of people. Source 1: Information on how the hunting of capybara is carried out and the restrictions around it was taken from www.fao.org/docrep/T0750E/t0750eOo.htm and was supported by www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/behavior/spring2002/willoughby/other.html. This stated that "governments in the area enacted laws to protect these creatures" and "increased enforcement laws". Source 1 and 2: I found that capybara meat is "already being used in Argentina and Uruguay for sausage-making 1" from the website www.fao.org/docrep/T0750E/t0750eOo.htm and that capybara meat is low in fat on the website www.rebsig.com/capybara/capymeat.html. I also found evidence to support the idea that people eat capybara currently in these countries, information on the website www.bio.davidson.edulpeople/vecase/behavior/spring2002/willoughby/other.html. Bibliography Capy meat in the news by Bart Jones (August 1999) http://www.rebsig.com/capybara/capymeat.html [Accessed on Monday 3rdMarch 2008 at 12:44pm] http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0750E/t0750eOo.htm [Accessed on Friday 29th February 2008 at 12:51pm] Other Tidbits About the Capybara (Spring 2002) by Ian Willoughby. 'Tidbits' section http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/behavior/spring2002/willoughby/other.html [Accessed on Monday 3rd March 2008 at 12:51pm] http://www.ses-explore.org/gfx/Expeditions/KMVlojaki.jpg [Accessed on Tuesday 4thMarch 2008 at 12:50pm] http://www.fao.org/docrep/v7795eN7795e02.htm [Accessed on Tuesday 4th March 2008 at 14:48pm] http://www.earlham.edu/~martilu/capypicinh20.gif [Accessed on Tuesday 4th March 2008 at 12:46pm] http://www2.ville.montrea1.qc.ca [Accessed on Tuesday 4thMarch 2008 at 12:46pm] http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk [Accessed on Wednesday 5thMarch 2008 at 12:40pm] The picture of the capybara number 5 was taken by me at Chester zoo on 21st February 2008. Chester zoo information board by the capybara enclosure on 21st February2008. Dr Juliet Clutton-Brock (2001) Animal, chapter mammals, pp. 86-257. David Bumie (ed). London: Dorling Kindersley Limited. Barker S. Bridgeman M. Colyer M. Geatrell B. Heppleston P. Knight C. Lillford P. Slingsby D. Smith M. Wilson J. Winterbottom M. (2005) Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology AS. Topic 4: Plants and climate change. pp. 144-210. Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford. Heinemann Educational Publishers. 1. http://www.fao.org/docreprr0750E/t0750eOo.htm 2. http://www.rebsig.comlcapybaralcapymeat.html 3. Animal 4. Salter’s-Nuffield Advanced Biology AS 5. http://www.ses-explore.org/gfx/Expeditions/KMVlojaki.jpg 6. http://www.fao.org/docrep/v7795eN7795e02.htm 7. http://www.earlham.edu/~martilu/capypicinh2o.gif 8. http://www2.ville.montrea1.qc.ca 9. http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk 10. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Bristol.zoo.capybara.arp.jpg NB. Some ‘visuals’ and graphs are not included because of copyright reasons.