Alternative rodents are taking over the world—or rather, my Instagram feed. Capybaras steaming in hot springs filled with yuzu citrus, (pet?) beavers making a dam made of clothes and household items on a staircase, and raccoons getting dizzy by spinning around themselves are just some of the few clips that grace my screen. I’ve always known that these rodents existed (except for the quokka, which is dubbed the happiest animal in the world with a smile plastered on its face at all times), but I never thought about them much before this “trend” swept me off my feet. Though so adorable and entertaining, I didn’t know anything about them until I started researching for this article. I learned some pretty awesome things, and I’m going to spend the rest of the article totally geeking out about rad alternative rodent facts.

The capybara. So majestic, so peaceful, so large. In fact, capybaras are the largest rodents in the world. They are endemic to South America, and they can be found chilling on riverbanks or swimming in swamps. Capybaras are fantastic swimmers; they can dive and stay underwater for up to 5 minutes at a time—often falling asleep in the water whilst keeping their noses at the edge of the banks. Excuse me while I gush at this visualization. Capybaras are social creatures and live in groups. They communicate with each other by making a plethora of sounds including teeth-chattering, squealing, whining, whistling, crying, barking, and clicking; each sound has a different meaning and is specific to their individual social group. 

Ok, so beavers may be a rodent that you may be more familiar with if you live in North America. Beavers are possibly my favorite alternative rodent because of their unique flat tail and remarkable engineering ability. A beaver’s tail acts as a rudder or as a siren by slapping against the water to warn other beavers of a predator. Even better, on dry land, the tail acts as a prop to allow the beaver to sit upright or counterbalance so it doesn’t tip over while carrying heavy supplies in its teeth. In the Ice Age, beavers actually did not have their characteristic tail but instead grew up to eight feet long and weighed 200 pounds. Although these giant beavers are no longer around, we get to admire their smaller ancestors building dams that can completely change ecosystems. The world’s largest beaver dam stretches for 850 meters—the length of more than seven football fields—in the wilderness of northern Alberta. SEVEN. FOOTBALL. FIELDS. That’s just bonkers to think that a few beavers, maybe even a single beaver, created a dam to rival the most impressive architectural feats of the modern age. 

I’m going to skip raccoons because I’m just too excited to talk about quokkas. If you don’t know what these adorable creatures are, I would advise you to look up a photo because I promise you will not be disappointed (Edit: I added a photo just so you wouldn’t have to go through the extra step).

Full disclosure, quokkas are actually marsupials. However, an early Dutch visitor to an Australian island, Willem de Vlamingh, mistook quokkas for large rats when he arrived in 1696. He named the island “Rattennest” (Dutch for “Rat’s Nest”), which was later adapted to Rottnest. Thus, I feel that they deserve a place in this article even though they are not technically rodents. Although they may look small in pictures, they are actually the size of a house cat. Quokkas move around like other marsupials: by hopping. They also never drink water. This is because they extract most of the water they need from the plants they eat – their favorite being the guichenotia (a flowering bush). When water supplies are low, and so long as their food supplies remain stable, quokkas can go without water for as long as a month. Quokkas are not exactly endangered, but only inhabit very small portions of the land. Because of this, they are illegal to touch. Violators can be fined up to 2,000 Australian dollars and face prosecution. 

Although these represent only a few types of rodents, they are certainly the ones that are grabbing my attention. If you’re lucky enough to encounter one of these alternative rodents in your lifetime, I request that you take a moment to bask in the glory of their existence. Go rodents!