Animal lovers now have a place to hang out with the “it” animals of the day — big furry rodents. At The Capybara Cafe in St. Augustine, Fla., capybaras are crawling into visitors’ laps, munching on corn on the cob, and hunting for scratches from humans. It turns out that if you’re very good at giving scratches, the giant rodents will actually fall over as an indicator that they’re completely comfortable. The animals are such a hit with visitors that reservations are booked several months in advance. The cost is $49 per person for a 30-minute encounter, and $99 for an hour-long encounter that involves other animals, including skunks, wallabies and armadillos. The capybara, a semi-aquatic South American relative of the guinea pig, is the latest of a long line of animals to get the star treatment in the United States. The web-footed rodents can grow to more than 4 feet long and weigh well north of 100 pounds. Several zoos and wildlife parks across the country offer encounters with capybaras, but none of them provide the intimacy that visitors get at The Capybara Cafe.
