Think you know your rodents? OK, what weighs several pounds, resembles a beaver at first glance but has a thinner, ratlike tail?
That would be a nutria, one of the most common rodents in western Oregon.
Native to South America, where they're called coypu, nutria came to Oregon in the 1930s and '40s when fur farms flourished. When the fur market didn't fall for the nutria's luxuriant coat, farmed animals were released. They quickly took to western Oregon's temperate climate, finding homes in riverbanks and lake shores.
Nutria prefer being close to water and use it, like beavers, for protection from predators and travel to lush riverbank grazing zones.
Nutria burrow homes or borrow beaver dens and reproduce all year. And that makes them yet another imported curse to Oregonians -- they weaken dikes and shorelines, cause farmland erosion and make life generally miserable for other furry natives.
Unlike their rat cousins, nutria are primarily vegetarians and have tasty flesh. In fact, extension offices in the South carry brochures with nutria recipes, something Oregonians usually can't quite seem to bring themselves to sample -- though a "Wild Food Cook-Off" at Portland State University in May, part of a social-art conference called
included nutria chili among the delicacies. Visit the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' nutria website for
, including chili.
The most nocturnal nutria is common in the Portland area and lives easily alongside human homes. You don't want to mess with them, however. Nutria have large incisors and often use them to attack dogs. They can easily shred skin to the bone.
But nutria are also shy and usually will dash for cover if approached.
– Bill Monroe
If you want to automatically receive a daily homes and gardens tip, sign up here.