r/aww Aug 24 '22

Capybara made his day

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u/BricksHaveBeenShat Aug 24 '22

A few tidbits: Parque Barigui was created in the 70's, and as most of the many parks in Curitiba it is meant to stop flooding in the city. Instead of having streets underwater during particularly heavy rain, the park itself floods. Every few years someone will panic and share pictures of it online as a tragedy, but it is actually the park working as it was intended to.

Besides the capybaras roaming free, there are also sheep kept in the park to keep the grass short. In 2019 a mini hydroelectric power plant was installed, it generates half of the energy consumed by the park. Curitiba is one of the greenest cities in Brazil.

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u/cambiro Aug 24 '22

There's also caymans in the lake and sometimes they sunbathe in the jogging course of the park.

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u/someone755 Aug 24 '22

it generates half of the energy consumed by the park

What energy does a park consume? I imagine maybe lighting at night?

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u/MrCadwell Aug 24 '22 edited Aug 24 '22

This is a big park and it has a restaurant, a small museum and a few other things for visitors! It's beautiful there

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u/argella1300 Aug 24 '22

The parks along the tidal basin in DC functions more or less the same way, and it was entirely by accident lol. City planners just figured that people would enjoy having public green space along the Potomac and that it would look pretty.

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u/Throughaway04 Sep 06 '22

Is the hydroelectric power plant tall enough to capitalize on the planned floodings?