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Nutria, the beaver-like rodents with long, skinny tails, are among the most invasive species in Texas. Now, a new film called Rodents of Unusual Size details the role nutria play in the environment and culture of places like Louisiana and Texas.
The film debuts on television on the PBS series Independent Lens, which airs Tuesday, Jan. 15, at 10 p.m. on Houston Public Media, TV 8.
In the audio above, Houston Matters producer Michael Hagerty talks with filmmaker Quinn Costello about how nutria got here, about efforts to eradicate them, and how people on the Gulf Coast have embraced the rodents as a part of their culture.
- A nutria in a river. (Photo Credit: Petar Milošević/Wikipedia Commons)
- A ten-day-old baby nutria. (Photo Credit: George Chernilevsky/Wikipedia Commons)
- Government programs in Louisiana have encouraged the hunting of nutria to lessen their numbers. (Photo Credit: Rodents of Unusual Size/Screen Capture)
- With the animal's large numbers, the sale and use of nutria fur has become popular in Louisiana. (Photo Credit: Rodents of Unusual Size/Screen Capture)
- Fisherman Thomas Gonzales and the nutria he hunts along the Louisiana coast, as seen in the documentary Rodents of Unusual Size. (Photo Credit: Rodents of Unusual Size/Screen Capture)
- Louisiana fisherman Thomas Gonzales has lost several homes to hurricanes and sees himself and the invasive nutria species as survivors. (Photo Credit: Rodents of Unusual Size/Screen Capture)
- Nutria are an invasive species prominent along the Gulf Coast. (Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons)
