HQ Wildlife Capybara Encounter
The team at Capybara on the Clouds has been busy lately! We've been working on some exciting new designs (coming soon!) and enjoying one of the best experiences of our lives: meeting real capybaras right here in Queensland. Needless to say, we're even more obsessed with these adorable creatures than ever!
During the school holidays, we headed to HQ Wildlife on the beautiful Sunshine Coast for an amazing experience: getting to know the two lovely capybaras that call the zoo home.
During our visit, we learnt some interesting facts about Pico and Chip, the two adult capybaras living there. Chip is a boy, weighing around 50 kg. He's confident, outgoing, and definitely not a fan of sharing his food! Pico, on the other hand, is a girl who weighs around 45 kg. She's slightly smaller, a little shy, and absolutely gorgeous.
The zookeepers do a fantastic job of keeping their environment clean and well maintained, making sure the capybaras have everything they need to enjoy life. They get to munch on delicious bamboo leaves, apparently one of their favourite foods, take a dip in the water and simply enjoy life the capybara way: relaxed, happy and unbothered.
One of the most interesting and surprising facts we learnt is that capybaras can run at speeds of around 25 km/h! Isn't that fascinating? These adorable, laid-back animals are much faster than you might expect. We also learnt that albino capybaras are extremely rare. Their pale colouring makes them more visible to predators in the wild, which can put them at a disadvantage and affect their chances of survival.
Capybaras love swimming, and at the zoo, they have their own pond where they can splash around, cool off and enjoy a refreshing dip whenever they like.
We also got the chance to feed Pico and Chip some yummy bamboo leaves! Of course, we had to be careful not to get our fingers mistaken for a snack, as capybaras have surprisingly sharp teeth. Did you know their teeth never stop growing throughout their lives?
HQ Wildlife runs capybara encounters three times a day on most days of the week. The experience costs $125 AUD per person, on top of the general admission fee. Was it worth the one-hour drive from Brisbane? Absolutely! Getting to meet these adorable animals up close was an experience we'll never forget.
https://whqzoo.com/animal-encounters/
I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed meeting Pico and Chip!