elephantine , royal , hairy , and await quite a morsel like a wop pig , the capibara is most definitely a Pisces , according to the Vatican .

Capybarasare theworld ’s large rodentsand are aboriginal to South America . Though you might not think it because of their shape , capybara are excellent swimmers and appear toenjoy time in the water . They can hold their breath underwaterfor around five minutes , and often take cat sleep in water or along riverbanks to stay cool . They have webbed invertebrate foot and streamlined facial feature of speech , helping them to float rapidly away from possible predators underwater .

They are still , nevertheless , very muchnot a fish , and belong to to the giant cavy house of gnawer . So why does the Vatican label them so ? Well , like whenCalifornia mark bee as Pisces last year , it ’s to bend the rules a little . Unlike with bees , the principle - deflection is not so that the animal can be open legal protections on a technicality , but so that they can be gobbled down by Christians during Lent .

During the mediate age , eat up the substance of certain creature was not take into account during Lent – the geological period mark when Jesus spent40 days in the desert , accord to the Bible . After the the colonization of the Americas by European colonist , man of the cloth in Venezuela wrote to the Vatican to ask if this new beast – with its webbed feet and fishy taste – could be classified as a Pisces the Fishes , so that they could continue to eat on it during the period of Lent . Those are 40 twenty-four hour period of eating endearing rodent that you just ca n’t get back .

The Vatican grant their requestin 1784 , and the gnawer wasgiven the status of fish .

" Even though most hoi polloi these days think the limitation is about eating meat , the dietary restriction was n’t about mammals & bird versus fish , but about land versus piss , " historian of the environment Dolly Jørgensenexplains on her blog . " Thus , other animals that spent their time in the water certified as aquatic and could be run through at Lent . "

They are n’t the only fauna . Beavers also fitinto the " things that are n’t fish which the Vatican hollo fish " subgenre , and could be eaten all year pear-shaped by Catholics . If they go for a Pisces the Fishes grade , of line .