![]() ![]() Nutria were first introduced in Elizabeth Lake, California, in 1899 for fur farming and later in Washington, Oregon, Michigan, New Mexico, Utah, Ohio, Louisiana, Texas and other states. They’re not without their enemies including alligators, turtles, snakes and us. In swamps and bayous, they assemble floating platforms of vegetation where the live or they’ll invade muskrat or beaver houses. Some will venture onto land or into farmland fields to chow-down on crops or other succulent vegetation. They’re vegetarians and will eat two to three pounds per day of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants like cattails, reeds and sedges. It doesn’t take long for a population of nutria to become established, and before you know it, there’s more nutria than you can shake a stick at. Young are capable of breeding at four to five months of age. Gestation is 127-132 days and young begin eating green vegetation within a few hours, being born fully furred and with open eyes. Nutria breed every month of the year and have two or three litters of five or so young. Mammary glands are located high on the female’s side which allows her young to suckle while she swims. Hind toes are webbed, except for the “little toe”, making them strong swimmers. Forelegs have five toes, four of which are clawed and used for digging and grooming. Their forelegs are short compared to the hind legs, so when they walk on land they have a hunched profile. Glands located near the corners of their mouth secrete an oily substance used to groom and waterproof their fur. Their mouth and nose are valvular (closes under water), so they can bite off underwater plants with their four large incisors without getting water in their mouth. They can dive and stay under water for up to 10 minutes. With relatively poor eyesight, they have developed acute hearing to help elude predators during their nocturnal feeding forays. The ears are small and eyes set high on the head. Coloration is brownish and there are three layers of fur: three inch primary guard hairs, secondary guard hairs beneath and short underfur which is less dense than that of muskrat or beaver. Average weight is 12-20 pounds, but some individuals may weigh 25 or more males are larger than females. They’re about 14 inches from nose to the base of their tail that extends another 12-17 inches. ![]() At first glance, they resemble beavers but are smaller and equipped with a round, slightly haired rat-like tail rather than a flat one. ![]() Nutria is a large rodent in the Family Myocastoridae. At the tip of South America, they’re found in coastal channels, bays and glacier-fed estuaries. The generic name Myocastor means “mouse-beaver” and the species name coypus was derived from a word in the language of Araucanian Indians of south-central Chile for this aquatic mammal found there. In most of the world (except Louisiana and France where the name translates in French as ragondin), they’re called coypu and their fur nutria. Nutria (Myocastor coypus) are native to South America. When I told a friend later about the fine Cajun dish I’d eaten over in Louisiana, he also grinned and informed me that he really didn’t like to eat nutria rat all that much, but to each his own. The waitress sorta grinned as she scribbled down my order and waltzed back to the kitchen in step with the zydeco beat.Īctually, the ragondin wasn’t too bad – a little chewy with a flavor somewhere between swamp rabbit and dark turkey meat. I knew I could depend on the rice and beans being good, but I wasn’t sure about the ragondin, whatever it was. “Mighty fine, mighty fine - think I’ll just have your Thursday blue plate special - fricassee of ragondin with a side order of rice and beans,” I loudly ordered over the blaring accordion in my right ear. I always seem to get a table front and center, right next to the loud zydeco band that will play nonstop until I leave (I think they play that music to confuse you so you’ll order things off the menu you normally wouldn’t even consider, much less know what they are.) There’ll be an assortment of dishes and entrees with distinct Cajun sounding names like etouffee, boudin, courtboullion, fricassees of this and that and gumbos made from just about every kind of meat known to mankind. One look at the menu and we wonder if we’re still in the good o’l U. Cross Timbers Wildlife News: Coypu - printed from North Texas e-Newsīy Jim Dillard, Wildlife Biologist, Texas Parks & Wildlife DepartmentĮating out in Louisiana is always an interesting experience for us Texans. ![]()
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