Attention lounge! Attention lounge! Monkeys grooming capybaras

[Recursion]

That is all

[pinboy3niner]

1. The monkeys still control the capybara?

[Recursion]

2. There are things I will miss about India

Troops of monkeys taking over the picnic tables, and throwing their own feces at the man with the larger monkey whose job is to scare them off, is not one of them.

[pinboy3niner]

3. My messages from building management are far less amusing than yours, lol

[Recursion]

5. These are new world monkeys

Much better behaved than their African or Asian cousins.

[gregcrawford]

13. The capybara gets fleas and parasites removed...

... and the monkeys get a snack. Perfect symbiotic relationship. As a side note, only new world monkeys have prehensile tails; African monkeys do not.

[juxtaposed]

4. sounds a lot like what trump does

[sarge43]

6. Nice one

[lovemydog]

7. ha!

[anniebelle]

8. Awwwwww

[cab67]

9. These pictures may help solve two enduring evolutionary mysteries.

Seriously. (Actually, not. But sort of.)

Two of the biggest unresolved conundrums in vertebrate evolution involve the native rodents (caviomorphs) and monkeys (platyrrhines) of South America. Their closest living relatives are either African or geographically widespread, but ancestrally African. But they both arose long after South America and Africa had separated. There's no evidence that either group passed through Eurasia into North America before reaching South America.

I've heard more than one mammalogist, tongue in cheek, suggesting that a big caviomorph swam across the Atlantic with a monkey on its back. Maybe they weren't that far off.

(Capybaras are semiaquatic. In fact, some Catholic dioceses in their natural range allow parishioners to eat them on Fridays during Lent on the theory that, as water-dwelling creatures, they count - ecclesiastically, if not phylogenetically - as fish. And although I've never tried capybara, some of their close relatives really are delicious.)

[Bucky]

10. That second picture looks like it's from a rodeo

instead of "Ride 'em, Cowboy!" we'd have to say "Ride 'em, Capybaramonkey!" but it's still a rodeo on my book

[shenmue]

14. I am stealing that

Capybaramonkey!

[Tanuki]

23. Speaking of which....

[crim son]

11. Bwahahahahahahahahah!

I rarely check into the Lounge but I'm glad I did so this morning!

[Phentex]

12. Looks like everybody's enjoying it!

cute!

[malthaussen]

15. Cute furry animals who are not cats?

Is that allowed under the ToS?

-- Mal

[blondie58]

16. How very precious!

I love nature!

[Xipe Totec]

17. Awesome!

[NV Whino]

18. But are they grooming capybaras in the cabana?

[Tanuki]

19. Sure, it's all fun and games....

until somebody gets punched in the nose!

[Solly Mack]

20. I would love that!

Getting groomed.

Adorable!!

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. That is one big rodent!

Normal weight is up to 150 lbs! That's a person!

[CottonBear]

22. I just saw 2 of these big guys @ the zoo last Sat!

(The new world monkeys, however, had their own separate exhibit.)

They are very vocal. The two that I observed were grunting and snuffling. The exhibit signage described a wide range of vocalizations.

Apparently, top weight can be 175 pounds! That is one big rodent!

They are actually sort of cute: like an aquatic Guinea pig on steroids!