‘I Love You’: Saigon Zoo welcomes three adorable baby capybaras

The newborns are the offspring of Cat, a resident capybara at the zoo. A video posted on the zoo’s verified Facebook page showed that Cat gave birth to the three pups on October 19.

According to the zoo, the three pups are difficult to tell apart by appearance.

Yeu tends to toddle after its mother, while Anh and Em often stick together, sometimes nipping and squabbling with each other.

Cat is one of four capybaras named Phu, Quy, Cat and Tuong that were introduced at the zoo in January 2025. Their names represent a traditional Vietnamese four-character blessing—with 'Cat' meaning luck rather than a feline—translating to 'Wealth, Prosperity, Luck, and Peace.'

When the four capybaras were introduced last year, Mai Khac Trung Truc, director of the zoo’s animal division, said they had arrived a month earlier and undergone quarantine, health monitor and behavioral assessments before being displayed to visitors.

Capybaras have skyrocketed in popularity across Vietnam in recent years, becoming a viral internet sensation and visitor favorite due to their famously docile nature and laid-back charm.

According to the zoo, capybaras are popular for their friendly nature and close interactions with humans.

They are generally not wary of people and tend to be sociable.

Native to South America, capybaras are found in countries including Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Argentina.

They typically inhabit areas near water, such as riverbanks, lakes, ponds and floodplains.

Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents and belong to the guinea pig family. 

They can grow up to 60cm tall and 1.2 meters long, and weigh as much as 100kg.

Capybaras can tolerate high temperatures, but humidity is important to their well-being.

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens regularly uses misting systems and provides a pool in the middle of their enclosure to maintain suitable humidity levels.

Earlier this month, the zoo announced the sad news that its last lion had died of age-related health problems after spending 16 years at the facility.

Mimi was one of two lions brought to Saigon Zoo in 2010 when the pair were about two years old.

Over the next 16 years, the lion became one of the zoo’s most familiar and recognizable animals.

The male lion that arrived with her died in 2022, leaving Mimi as the sole representative of the species at the facility.

“As life goes, sadness gives way to joy, and farewells are followed by reunions. Today, Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens introduces three brand-new troublemakers in its capybara family: Anh, Yeu and Em, the offspring of Cat from the Phu, Quy, Cat and Tuong capybara family,” the zoo wrote in the caption accompanying a video introducing the baby capybaras.

The video follows a farewell video for Mimi posted three days earlier, which has garnered 1.5 million views.