Capybaras: IRL Stinky Pig?

Is it feasible for Capybaras to be domesticated creatures, like peccaries were in the Stinky Pig Timeline? There about the size of wild boars and currently are farmed in some amounts. They can live in temperatures found in the USA, but are limited to wetlands.
 
Is it feasible for Capybaras to be domesticated creatures, like peccaries were in the Stinky Pig Timeline? There about the size of wild boars and currently are farmed in some amounts. They can live in temperatures found in the USA, but are limited to wetlands.


Well, Capybaras must first get out of Meso-South America, which needs the Amazonian civilization to survive, link up with the Incans and/or Aztecs. How that is accomplished, I leave it to you.
 
Well, Capybaras must first get out of Meso-South America, which needs the Amazonian civilization to survive, link up with the Incans and/or Aztecs. How that is accomplished, I leave it to you.

There are Lesser Capybaras in Panama, plus Normal Capybaras have a range going into Colombia, or is Colombia off the beaten track for the Inca?
 
I think this would be pretty difficult to pull off because Capybaras prefer to spend so much time in the water, and because (compared to other domesticated animals) rather picky eaters. Aside from the animals themselves, there is the fact that the part of the world they are from would be unlikely to see the rise of an indigenous urban population. The Capybara inhabits swamps and jungles, meaning that the humans most likely to come in contact with them are going to be hunter/gatherer types less interested in domestication.

But then, humans have domesticated waterfowl such as the Swan, so its not impossible. I imagine the Capybara would be a relatively easy critter to introduce into Florida, Central America, Southeast Asia and Central Africa. If I had to guess, I think the most likely type of widespread human interaction with the Capybara would involving introducing them as invasive species and trapping the surplus population for food, kind of like the introduction of hares to Australia.
 
There are Lesser Capybaras in Panama, plus Normal Capybaras have a range going into Colombia, or is Colombia off the beaten track for the Inca?

As described by Jared Diamond, The Panama Isthmus was nearly nonexistant in the fact that the cultures on either side of it would rarely ever come into contact with the other.

So I'd imagine that two independent domestications of the Capybara: Once in Panama which reaches the Aztecs (fulfilling your dream) and another occurring at the fringes of Incan society where the Forest meets the mountains. Multiple other smaller domestications may occur in Colombia & Amazonia, creating local butterflies.
 
I think the Capybara would in some ways be a better candidate than the peccary in some ways because it eats grasses and aquatic plants and bark (according to Wikipedia), and so will generally not compete with humans for food.
However, according to the same source they do not have the capacity to synthesize vitamin C, like guinea pigs. Obviously this was not a problem in the Andes, but it could prove to be a problem in other regions.

As for the Capybara's need for water, I think some intensive breeding may eventually create 'dryland' breeds that can be farmed away from rivers and swamps. This would take a very long time to achieve, though. Also, if the question has to be asked-if Capybaras CAN be domesticated as easily as Guinea Pigs, why weren't they?
 
This would take a very long time to achieve, though. Also, if the question has to be asked-if Capybaras CAN be domesticated as easily as Guinea Pigs, why weren't they?

It's already been said: because the areas were capybaras live now are terrible for the arising of ancient sedentary civilizations.

Now, if only the North American capybara had survived, at least in Mesoamerica, there would be a possibility (funny how we always reach the same point when somebody is looking for a large domestic animal in the Americas).
 
The whole problem with American civilizations in general is that the MesoAmericans failed to become a seafaring people.

Also the fact that there large barriers stopping cultural diffusion and technological diffusion like the Deserts of northern Mexico or the lowland regions of Panama which stopped the Llama from arriving in the Highland regions of Mexico.
 
Also the fact that there large barriers stopping cultural diffusion and technological diffusion like the Deserts of northern Mexico or the lowland regions of Panama which stopped the Llama from arriving in the Highland regions of Mexico.

All of which would be non-issues with sailing ships.
 
Why would capibara be domesticated for? If it is just meat, hunting would be enough, since it usually lives in areas not to be densely populated. All major domesticates have, I think, some major advantage other than just eating it (milk, wool, transport, work, etc.). Capibara needs to to fill some other niche IMHO.
 
Why would capibara be domesticated for? If it is just meat, hunting would be enough, since it usually lives in areas not to be densely populated. All major domesticates have, I think, some major advantage other than just eating it (milk, wool, transport, work, etc.). Capibara needs to to fill some other niche IMHO.

Pelts, maybe. They would fill a niche similar to pigs in the old world in that respect.
 
How would this stop Capybaras?

It would delay them, potentially, if the Ithmus has very little farming in it (and it certainly did not support civilizations on par with Mesoamerica). Fewer farmers means fewer people to adopt the capys.
However, the isthmus would probably not stop capybaras like it did llamas. Llamas are mountain animals, capybaras are jungle creatures. They will do well in the isthmus, and in the more densely populated regions immediately to the North of it.
 
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