Wingham Wildlife Park baby capybaras are ‘stealing hearts’

Three baby capybaras that are “stealing hearts” at a Kent wildlife park have been named Colin, Clive and Cuthbert.

The cuddly creatures, born in October, were given their names after the public came up with options and then voted from a shortlist.

A video of the trio was posted on Instagram as the names were announced by keepers, who said: “Forget heist movies, these cute ‘baby potatoes’ are stealing our hearts.”

Meg Lawler, head of mammals at Wingham Wildlife Park, near Canterbury, said the names for the furry band of brothers were inspired by the well-known chocolate caterpillar cakes.

Capybaras – the world’s largest rodents – were an internet sensation back in 2023 when a TikTok song had hundreds of millions of views, and animal parks and zoos saw a rapid rise in demand to meet them.

Last year, keepers caring for capybaras in Oxfordshire described them as “chilled” creatures that “vibe through life“, with their days starting in the afternoon and not worrying about a thing.

Back at the park in Kent, Lawler said the trio had received a great deal of attention from visitors.

“Even before the babies were born obviously, capybaras – everybody wanted to see them,” she said.

“Now we’ve got the babies, they’re getting lots and lots of attention.”

She said the park always kept fans involved, adding: “We got people to put some names in. We picked our favourites. We did a poll and that was the one that came top.”

The keepers are hoping the park will have more capybara babies in the future.