If you are not on the Cabybara side of TikTok, you are doing something horrendously wrong. It is the best place to be. If you want to know more, strap yourselves in ’cause we’re going on a journey.
Where did the capybara TikTok trend come from?
A few months ago, a sound was uploaded on the app and began to circulate; it includes a song where the lyrics are literally just “capybara” over and over again with some trippy-sounding music in the background, and it now has over 500,000 videos using it, so I’m not the only one who’s been infected by its catchiness, or walking around my house singing it every 10 minutes.
In my case, I was singing it without knowing what a capybara actually is, and if you’re in the same boat, it’s okay. We’ll learn together.
WTF is a capybara?
No, it’s not an alcoholic drink or some far-off land; it’s actually a massive rodent that is closely related to guinea pigs. They are found in South America and usually live in groups of about 20, but the number can be much higher, around 100. They’re the biggest living rodents, too, but like their close relation, are quite cute, to be fair. One TikTok user even caught a man on his bike with one in his basket.
According to this TikTok, and others, they’re very chill, so that guy is probably onto something. (I mean, check out the one in our featured image with a bird sitting on its head.) They’re so chill and sociable that they’re not even scared of crocodiles. There are clips of them just enjoying life without a care in the world, grabbing a lift on a croc’s back. Pelicans apparently follow them around, too, trying to eat them, but as this video shows, Capybaras are very unbothered about being pecked at.
However, I’m not too convinced I’d want one as a pet because not only are they large and brilliant at swimming, but they can run at an impressive 22 miles per hour. The idea is funny but I also kinda don’t want to die?
Is the Capybara sound an actual song?
Yes, it turns out that it’s actually a full song that you can stream on platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. It was released in summer last year by Russian band СтоЛичный Она-Нас, and finding this out has inevitably destroyed about 90% of my brain cells, but also brought me a strange amount of joy.
I hope that I keep getting capybara videos on my fyp forevermore because it’s like therapy, and my serotonin goes through the roof.
(featured image: Ondrej Prosicky/Getty Images)
