From emoticons to spiritual totems: Why are South American capybaras so popular among young people in Asia? – ABC News
The Rise of the Capybara: A Symbol of Relaxation in a Turbulent World
After following them online for years, Li Jing finally saw her spiritual totem – the capybara – at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. ”I fell in love with capybaras when I watched videos online. They were bathing in it,” Ms. Li said.
Ms. Li, 31, who works in the pet industry, likes capybaras because they are “so cute, so quiet and so cool.” ”I found out I could meet them in Taronga and I was excited to queue up in the morning.”
Only four people a day can interact with the capybaras, and people line up half an hour before tickets go on sale. “We were lucky enough to get in. We fed the bamboo. They were just as cute as they looked in the video.”
This semi-aquatic herbivorous rodent from South America has won worldwide love in recent years. In 2023, a Russian blogger released a song called “Capybara”, which went viral on the overseas version of TikTok and received millions of likes.
In parts of Asia, the animal began to gain popularity several years ago, with fans in Japan in the early 2010s, and capybaras subsequently appearing in China.
Spiritual totem in the post-epidemic era
Like Ms. Li, many young people are increasingly using capybaras as a form of self-expression on social media. Capybara emojis are widely used and even available in different languages.
In China, an online community of capybara enthusiasts identifies themselves as “tunmen,” which means following the capybara lifestyle devoutly, as if it were a religious doctrine.
Capybara emoji.
Dr Gong Qian, a Chinese pop culture scholar at Curtin University, said one of the reasons capybaras were so popular among young people in Asia was that the post-COVID-19 world was a “very turbulent and competitive” one.
Dr Gong said: “Capybaras seem to be particularly favoured because of their temperament – they are emotionally stable and calm.”
The rise of the “capybara economy”
In addition to the Internet craze, capybaras have also appeared in people’s lives, creating new business opportunities. Chen Pinyu is the manager of a capybara-themed cafe called “MOGU KABI” in Tainan City, Taiwan.
“Capybara as a species wasn’t that popular outside of Japan at first,” Ms. Chen said. “I first saw them on a travel show in Japan. The importer said they came from the United States.”
The popularity of capybaras has also created business opportunities. (ABC: Iris Zhao)
According to Ms Chen, the cafe has become very popular and has attracted customers from different parts of the world. “I didn’t expect people to like capybaras so much,” she said.
But she said capybaras are “sensitive and timid” so they often feel nervous around strangers. “We limit the number of customers we interact with.”
Sometimes, fans queued for more than two hours at the cafe just for a chance to see them. Capybara-themed merchandise, such as plush toys, key chains, backpacks and blankets, can be found almost everywhere in Asia.
Animal rights issues
The popularity of capybaras has led some people overseas to keep them as pets, but many keepers lack the necessary expertise to care for them, raising concerns among animal welfare advocates.
It is illegal to keep capybaras as pets in Australia under federal and state laws. Huang Yuan, a veterinarian from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, said he once treated an abandoned capybara.
“I don’t know how it wandered. There are many lakes in Wuhan,” he said. “The zoo sent it here, saying a citizen found it.”
“The capybara has sepsis. It won’t eat, and its belly is huge.” “He died not long after the operation,” said Dr. Huang.
Ms Chen said while many of the cafe’s customers had expressed a desire to have a pet capybara, it was not in the interests of the welfare of these peaceful animals.
“It is a swimming animal and likes to play in the water,” said Ms. Chen. “There must be more than two of them because they live in groups.”
“It’s not that domesticated.”