If you've been on the internet at any point in the last few years, you've probably noticed that capybaras - those semi-aquatic, supremely chill rodents indigenous to Latin America - have become the unofficial mascots of social media. Now, Midlands-based filmmaker Sharon Walia has made a documentary about it, because someone had to.

Walia's previous work includes The Keepers of the Pigs, proudly described on her production company's website as "the first ever documentary about guinea pigs." So it makes perfect zoological sense that she'd graduate to capybaras, guinea pigs' ridiculously cute semi-aquatic cousins. The film, The Route to Cappyness, takes the temperature of an international obsession, from a cappy-cafe owner in Japan to an escaped capybara in the UK.

As glimpsed in the film, there was even a capybara in the recent Academy Award-winning animated feature Flow - pro-cappy boosterism that captured the creatures' chill vibe and snuffly sweetness. Walia's celebration stays on script, rejoicing in the animals' natural geniality, friendliness to other species in their natural habitat, and their compelling, remunerative charm that seems to have bolstered the fortunes of several animal attractions around the world.

So if you've ever wondered why your feed is full of rodents sitting in hot springs looking like they've achieved enlightenment, this homespun film is here to explain. Spoiler: it's because they're adorable and we're all helpless.