Society

Japanese zoo treats their capybara to a hot winter bath

Dec 21 (RT) - A zoo in Toyama, Japan, treated their capybara to a traditional Japanese hot citron bath to help them through the winter, as seen on Saturday.

The giant rodents were seen enjoying the steaming bath, swimming among dozens of floating yuzu, a japanese citrus fruit, as delighted visitors at the Toyama Municipal Family Park Zoo watched.

â€‹"'Yuzuyu', a hot citron bath is a Japanese tradition, taken on the shortest day in the winter. This helps survive the whole winter in good health without catching a cold. Therefore, in our zoo, we set 'Yuzuyus' on Saturday and Sunday," said zoo curator Hitoshi Murai said.

Originally from the Amazon, capybara are adapted to live in the tropical rainforest, which is why the zoo's management set up the open air hot tub to help them endure the cold Japanese winter, as the rest of their enclosure is covered in snow.

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