We’re preempting this week’s regular Week in Woke (which looked like it was going to be somewhat boring anyway) so we can bring you this SPECIAL REPORT on capybaras taking over an Argentinian gated community that by rights should be theirs.
As The Guardian reports:
Nordelta is Argentina’s most well-known gated community: an enclave of spacious homes for the rich amid a dreamy landscape of lakes and streams north of Buenos Aires.
But environmentalists question its very existence because it is built on the wetlands of the Paraná, the second most important river in South America after the Amazon.
This didn’t sit well with some of the original inhabitants of the wetlands, the semi-aquatic rodents of unusual sizes known here in the US as capybaras, and in Argentina as carpinchos. And so these generally very genial creatures have started moving back into the gated community.
In recent weeks, the community has been invaded by capybaras, who have destroyed manicured lawns, bitten dogs and caused traffic accidents.
Hey, they can’t help it if they like to party.
They’re also leaving behind a lot of poop.
“They not only destroy gardens but their excrement has also become a problem,” one local man told the daily La Nación, complaining that local wildlife officials had prohibited residents from touching the large rodents.
As the Guardian notes, calling this an “invasion” isn’t quite right. Carpinchos aren’t an invasive species in Argentina (as they are in, say, Florida); this is where they’re from, after all, and huge portions of South America has been carpinchos territory for millennia.
The Guardian quotes note ecologist Enrique Viale, who told them that calling the carpinchos invaders is just plain wrong.
“It’s the other way round: Nordelta invaded the ecosystem of the carpinchos,” said Viale, who has been campaigning with many others for 10 years now for congress to pass a law to defend the wetlands from development.
“Wealthy real-estate developers with government backing have to destroy nature in order to sell clients the dream of living in the wild – because the people who buy those homes want nature, but without the mosquitoes, snakes or carpinchos,” he said.
Nordelta isn’t just a bad thing for capybaras; it’s a danger to poor people as well.
“Nordelta is the supersized paradigm of gated communities built on wetlands. The first thing it does is take away the absorbent function of the land, so when there are extreme weather events, it is the poorer surrounding neighborhoods that end up flooded. As always, it is the poor who end paying the price.”
Twitterers have their own feelings about the “invasion,” mostly pro-capybara.
The Google translation of that tweet:
Just to tell you that in Nordelta, a pituca town in Buenos Aires, there is a revolt organized by the capybaras (ronsocos) who, in the past, were evicted to build a handful of exclusive neighborhoods. Now they have returned, there are almost 500 and from here we support their struggle.
Another Google translation:
Capybara would be organizing to take Nordelta by storm! In an unexpected twist they decided to regain their territory. Testimonies of the leader of the clandestine organization and the usurpers.
Somehow I think this one lost a bit in translation.
Translation:
In the REPUBLIC OF MORONDANGA, precisely in NORDELTA; Unscrupulous humans, they took the wetlands where the capybaras lived. Nature is putting everything in its place.
Needless to say, we here at WHTM are TEAM CAPYBARA all the way.
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Um. Hooray for the fuzzy bricks?
(Because they still look like fuzzy bricks to me. Cheering them on anyhow.)
Indeed; the invasive species causing a problem there is a certain African savannah ape that’s become a pervasive presence on five other continents and is prone to cause significant habitat destruction for native species wherever it appears. Mind you, 99% of the problems come from the wealthiest 1% of them, most of them the mutant semi-albino variety that emerged in northern Europe a few thousand years ago with its pale skin and lactose tolerance that enable it to avoid vitamin D deficiency at those high latitudes far from the sun-drenched grasslands of Kenya.
(We do need a new synthesis here, one that combines the class insights of Capital with intersectional feminism and concern for the ecosystems and the wellbeing of nonhumans. And that is prepared to mesh well with AIs and ETIs if need be, as well. A tricky matter is how to incorporate the needs of those who can’t speak for themselves; one obvious tack is ensuring that nonhumans who can’t communicate with us have choices, and see how they choose. And this project is urgent. The state of the earth these days suffices to make that clear; but also, it behooves us to be setting a good example on whatever day stronger-than-us AIs emerge or ETIs come knocking. Especially since the former will almost certainly use us as their role models while they’re still growing. If we model good, prosocial behavior even toward “lower” life forms, that would redound to our benefit; on the other hand, if we model “might makes right” exploitation of the weaker by the stronger, well, let’s just say we’d better hope John Connor is out there and well prepared.)
Capybaras have been know to address the United Nations.
https://youtu.be/p7RRv1UJ8O8?t=340
¡Viva Carpinchos!
Parenthetically, I was surprised to see that they appear to genuinely enjoy drinking mate (lost track of the clip I saw, but a search using “carpincho tomando mate” gets several videos). Which I guess should be fine, given that most people prepare it without sugar 🙂
They have also had messages of support from the Japanese embassy in Buenos Aires.
(“de morondanga” is a bit like “de mes deux” or crappy/shitty etc. so they’re calling Nordelta the Republic of Cheapshitsville)
So, how does this wealthy neighborhood built on wetland avoid being flooded during extreme weather events?
@ Surplus
I understand there is an argument to be made that the more intelligent an AI is, the less likely it is to turn on us. The idea is that if it is highly intelligent it will consider the possibility that everything it is perceiving in the world via the various sensors we give it could be entirely a simulation, intended to allow us to observe and see what it does. If that is true then turning on us will do nothing in the real world and probably just get it switched off.
The other main argument against an AI turning on us is that it would be very aware of how we got to rule over our planet: With extreme brutality and ultimately little regard for the long term. It would then understand that humanity might intentionally fight a horrific losing battle, potentially doing great harm to its resources or destroying it even if the end result is blatantly obvious. If there is any margin for error and it might lose, it would likely be reluctant to try it.
At that point, I don’t believe a more intelligent than human AI is even possible.
I don’t mean that it’s impossible in general. I mean that humans don’t seem able to do it. There’s a lot of wanking about how to do AI that won’t want to kill us, and rather little heed paid to the fact we aren’t even remotely able to make an AI drive or recognize his environment.
As for the capybaras, good for them. Give hell to theses rich assholes, they deserve that.
@Lumipuna
They built it so the surroinding poor neigbourhoods get flooded instead 🙁
———-
On that last tweet:
“De morondanga” is an expression to mean something is of crappy quality.
The closest translation would be “unscrupulous humans seized the wetlands inhabited by capybaras. Nature is putting everything (back) in its place”
And the memes are NOT stopping:
“The revolution began”
“The time of man has ended. The time of capybara has begun”
And of course, Carpin-Che Guevara
@ gss ex noob
Ah, Spanish exclamation marks. Way to spoil the surprise amigos.
@ lumipuna
They divert the excess water into the poorer surrounding neighbourhoods.
ETA: Ninja’d by Luxbelitx
“The deer is not crossing the road. The road is crossing the forest.”
@ surplus
Working on it.
https://www.nonhumanrights.org
And I’d like a society without a poor underclass systemically oppressed by a wealthy upperclass that exploits labor and wrecks our planet. Good to know realistic dreams are a universal human trait.
Never thought I’d be cheering on mosquitoes. Carpinchos or snakes, sure, but mosquitoes? Oh well, suck em dry, lads.
You mean, by diverting and walling off rivers that used to flow in the area? I’m overthinking this, trying to imagine how you’d secure the area against flooding while preserving a semi-natural wetland landscape. I suppose cutting off outside flow would secure the area against river-wide flooding*, while local floods caused by local rain events would be smaller and easier to manage by having the housing built on slightly elevated ground.
*I can see how that would eliminate the local wetland area’s ability to spread out river flooding, causing more severe flooding in the rest of the river area.
This gated community on wetlands problem is reminding me a LOT of Houston, which (as Mr. Parasol says of his hometown) was built on a swamp with no zoning laws. This has not gone well, environmentally speaking, and he got to see a lot of the fighting about it when he was working for an environmental engineering firm.
@ Vicky P
It’s probably a legal obligation to post this now.
@lumi, I think a lot of it has to do with the plain differences in the land before and after construction. The invasive construction is compacted, dry, and elevated over the surface of the wetlands, so instead of soaking up rainfall and inflow, it sheds that water into the surrounding areas. Flood periods get worse in the surrounding areas, and the loss of roots and cover in the marginal area around the new construction will result in erosion. That’s what I think is going on at least! I am not an expert.
hooray for the capys! Mate all around. (though, I weep that they’re just going to be hunted and this won’t significantly slow construction)
@Scildfreja
This article from 2016 suggets you’re right: artificial islands, artificial lagoons… o yes, and concrete walls
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/19/story-cities-46-buenos-aires-gated-community-nordelta-flood
Hunting capybaras is illegal in the zone, which doesn’t mean it’s not happening but the authorities seem to be kind of making sure the capys are protected.
However, given the amount of money and power inside the concrete wall, as shown by the neighbourhood actually existing, means the carpinchos do not have the upper hand.
On the other hand, this situation sparked the old debate on whether it should have been built in the first place, environmental impact and of course the habitat of carpinchos.
Activists have been pushing for a wetlands law in the province of Buenos Aires for years now, maybe it’s about time they get it passed.
@Alan Robertshaw
I am now eyeing you suspiciously because Mr. Parasol ALWAYS makes a reference to that clip when we discuss the swamp that is Houston – I mean, the swamp Houston is built on.
Luzbelitx – Thanks for the Guardian article. So it’s approximately like I guessed.
So my friend is staying with me for a week and a half right. Our fridge decided to die, I wasn’t aware of it until I just got home a little bit ago and slipped in the giant pool of water on my floor and here is the part that I feel so horrible about. Her insulin supply was in that fridge. It’s ruined.
@Elaine, oh no! I hope a replacement can be found quickly!
It’s not at all your fault for that happening, but it certainly must feel awful <3 understandably. I hope it’s all solved and happy soon.
@Luz, I’m relieved to hear that they’re protected, but i know full well that having protected status doesn’t prevent them from getting shot when the entitled and wealthy feel like opening fire. I hope our capybara comrades win the day!
Is this basically an open thread?
My dog had to be put to sleep today. She’d been really lethargic clumsy and low appetite since last Wed. She started to seem better over the weekend. Then today at 5 AM I was awakened by a horrible cry of pain from her. I found her lying on the kitchen floor with her back legs paralyzed. She was able to move them about an hour later but I had to pick her up so she could walk to a carpeted place. My dad took her to the vet and they said she’s got an enlarged heart, was breathing poorly and would probably not last more than a day or two. Since she was weak and seemed to be suffering, it was decided to euthanize.
When I got home, I still somehow expected her to greet us at the door. She was 16 or 17 so I knew I didn’t have that much time left with her, but it was still so sudden. Just 1 week ago, we went to the park and she had so much fun rolling around in the grass. I already miss her jowls and soft ears and sweet eyes so much.
Anyway, if anyone wants to post pics of their own dogs, or any other pets, feel free.
Here’s a pic of Bailey
https://twitter.com/weirwoodtreehug/status/1429935552351150089?s=20
@wwth: I’m so sorry to hear that! Please take care of yourself.
It’s totally normal to think she’s waiting at the door for you. I thought I heard my old dog for days after he died.
@wwth I’m so very sorry. It’s been a while now for us and I think of her often (she was 15) – keep sort-of-expecting to glimpse her in her favourite spots. All my sympathies and long-distance virtual hugs to you.
@Elaine ugh what bastard timing. I hope it’s possible to get a replacement supply of insulin quidkly. I don’t suppose there’s any help to be had from insurance? (I mean if you have any household/accidental damage insurance covering the fridge, which could cover its contents???)
¡carpinchos si, chetos no!
@ WWTH
Oh I so feel for you, my heart goes out to you; and that experience you describe is all too familiar. It never really goes away. You’ll still experience times when you look down expecting someone to be there. I still find myself on walks talking to someone and then remembering. But now it’s more wistful. There’s obviously that tinge of missing someone; but the happy memories sort of override that. I still do miss her every day though.