digital Musings . . . . .
Is this a coypu?
Posted by Helen (Melbourne, Australia) on 1 September 2006 in Animal & Insect.
This is the animal Matt. Sorry this is a very, very ordinary photo, but I am curious to now what it is. It looks like some kind of rodent. It was the size of a very large rabbit.
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Matt Trujillo Photography from Portland, United States
If it is, I don't think it's the same variety as the ones we have in the States. The fur on this creature seems a bit coarse, and it has no hair on it's tail.
The coypu (or nutria) was brought to the U.S. from South America in a kind of pyramid scheme to be sold for it's fur. Breeding pairs were quite expensive, but there was little market for their beaver-like fur. The animals breed like the rodents they are, so the hapless investors soon found themselves in a flooded market. To add insult to fiscal injury, the investment had to be cared for each day. Picture a gigantic pen full of beaver-sized (20kg) rats in the back yard.
As the investors realized their folly, they cut their losses by opening their pens. The population has settled in various areas of the U.S. where something akin to their original natural habitat can be found.
Find a shot here:
http://mtrujillo.aminus3.com/image/2007-03-23.html
18 Apr 2007 5:37pm
Fujifilm FinePix S5500
1/160 second
F/3.1
ISO 200
26 mm