Deborah Harrell wrote:
>
>> In the Tupi-Guarani mythology it's called "Caminho
>> da Anta", which means "Pathway of a
>> <big-cousin-of-the-rat-with-the-
>> size-of-a-cow>". Sorry for not getting the name in
>> Tupi but in Portuguese O:-)
>
> Those sessions with the Time-Life Series nature books
> as a child were not wasted...I thought it might be
> "capybara," which is the biggest rodent in the world,
> and finally had time to look it up:
> http://www.k12.de.us/warner/capybara.htm
>
You are right, but I am wrong.
Anta translates to _tapir_, and it's a cousin of the
camel, deer, and other ungulates. It's the biggest and
most stupid mammal of South America [if you exclude
H. sapiens, of course]
Capivara is the rodent.
BTW, both are used as methaphors: _anta_ means very
stupid, _capivara_ means a bad chess player.
Alberto Monteiro
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