Name these cutest ugliest animals you’ve ever seen for NJ zoo

Anyone old enough to remember this incredibly corny claymation kids’ show called “Davey and Goliath” in the early 60’s? It was before my time but I saw them in the 70’s in reruns.

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It was a Christian-based show meant to teach moral lessons and was so schmaltzy it made “The Brady Bunch” look like “The Osbournes.”

Anyway I remember one episode where the talking dog kept bringing up this strange Australian bird called a kookaburra. “Kookaburra Davey, kookaburra!”

But that bird has nothing on the giant ugly rodent called a capybara when it comes to weirdness. Have you ever seen one? Picture something that looks like a rat but with the thick head of perhaps a beaver combined with a horse and a huge solid rump. Oh, and picture it 4 feet long, 2 feet tall and weighing as much as 140 pounds.

It’s the stuff of nightmares and pleasant dreams all at once I tell you. Because while bizarre looking they’re also cute as a button at the same time. Albeit a huge, hairy button.

If you’d like to not only meet one but come up with some creative names the Cape May County Zoo could use your help. Back in June a litter of capybara pups was born.

For a small donation you can suggest a creative name. They need male names and female names. (But what if one female identifies as male? Oooh, wait, what if one capybara identifies as a kookaburra?)

You’ll find the contest on the Cape May County Zoo’s website. They will narrow it down to three boy names and three girl names then the public gets to vote both online and in person at the entrance to the zoo.

The winning names will be selected Labor Day weekend.

Want some random capybara facts?

They are literally the world’s largest rodents.

They have webbed feet and as awkward as they look they’re actually excellent swimmers.

Their teeth never stop growing. (Hey, is Phil Murphy part capybara?)

Perhaps the goofiest fact is capybaras are known as nature’s ottomans because other species will often just come and sit on their back to rest and these gargantuan rodents are perfectly okay with it. In the wild you’ll see birds, monkeys, rabbits and whatever else just chilling out on their backs using them like furniture.

They can hold their breath under water for five minutes at a time.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.

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