Karen Ano, age 13, of Fonthill, Ont., Canada, for her question:

WHAT IS A CAPYBARA?

The largest living rodent is the capybara, a resident of South America who weighs in at a hefty 100 pounds, is about 3 to 4 feet long and measures 2 feet high at the shoulder. How would you like to find him in your mousetrap?

Looking a bit like a Guinea pig, although having no tail and partly webbed feet, the capybara lives along the banks of rivers and lakes.

Rodents actually have the largest number of species of all the mammalian orders. In addition to the rat, regarded by many as the worst pest of all animals, the rodent family includes such gnawing animals as chinchillas, beavers and muskrats.