The Nutria, a Rodent Promoted as ‘Guilt-Free Fur’ - The New York Times The New York Times Fashion & Style |Is Their Pest Your Clean Conscience? Search Is Their Pest Your Clean Conscience? ANNA JANE GROSSMAN Continue reading the main story Photo Xiomara del Carmen helped Ana Lodriguss prepare for a nutria fashion show in New Orleans. Credit Jennifer Zdon for The New York Times TREATING nutria as a kind of “guilt free” fur is tough when you’re cutting the pelt and fur gets caught in your eyes. That’s what Micha Michelle Melancon, a fashion designer in New Orleans, found out when she was making a cloak from what is commonly known as a swamp rat. “This is an animal,” Ms. Melancon said, after her work space became filled with fluffy piles of excess fur. “A soft, furry, once-living-and-breathing being.” But unlike other soft and furry animals, nutria is being rebranded as a socially acceptable and environmentally friendly alternative way to wear fur. The effort culminates this Sunday, when Ms.

Melancon and about 20 designers take part in a “righteous fur” fashion show at the House of Yes, an art space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Fluffy hats, muffs, leg warmers and even a wedding dress will be paraded down the runway, in a show expected to draw about 150 people. Don’t look for any celebrities in the front row. A reporter from National Geographic and someone who works at Marc Jacobs are among the expected V.I.P.’s. Photo Aura Fedora wore a nutria shawl designed by Jessica Radcliffe. Credit Jennifer Zdon for The New York Times But Nutria-palooza, as the show is being called, is not just about fashion. The main sponsor is the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, a nonprofit conservation group in Thibodaux, La., that works to preserve the 4.2-million-acre swamp in southern Louisiana that is being threatened by the furry critter. Continue reading the main story As any resident of Louisiana knows, nutria is a herbivorous rodent, about half the size of a beaver, that is native to South America.

The animals were shipped to fur farmers in the United States as early as the 19th century, and some eventually escaped into the Louisiana swamps. At first, the population was kept in check by fur trappers and a marketplace that prized the exotic fur. Hollywood starlets like Greta Garbo were fans of nutria coats. Advertisement Continue reading the main story But when the fur market started to founder in the 1980s, the nutria population soared and started to endanger the fragile ecosystem. The invasive rodent eats away the bottom of the plants that hold the coastal wetlands together. In 2002, Louisiana started paying trappers and hunters $5 for every nutria killed. The effort to control the nutria population had some success, with bounty hunters killing about 400,000 animals last year. But the carcasses were simply discarded or left to rot in the swamp. Photo Billy Reid used nutria in his recent collection. Credit Mimi Ritzen Crawford/Getty Images That’s when Cree McCree, an environmentalist and designer from New Orleans, came up with her fashion idea.

Instead of wasting all that fur, she wanted to market nutria as a “guilt-free fur that belongs on the runway instead of at the bottom of the bayou,” she said. “If they’re being killed anyway,” she added, “then why not make something beautiful out of them?” Last year, using a grant from the estuary foundation, Ms. McCree founded Righteous Fur, a line of products made with the carcasses’ leftovers. That not only includes the soft brown fur, but also the animal’s signature orange teeth, which she caps with sterling silver and sells as necklaces for $85. Ms. McCree has held three nutria fashion shows in New Orleans in the last year, but the New York event, she said, will help push her campaign to the next level. Photo Nutria have been destroying plants vital to Louisiana swamps. Credit Robin Loznak, The News-Review, via Associated Press Indeed, nutria has been having a moment.

Designers like Billy Reid (who recently won a major fashion award; see Front Row, Page 4), Michael Kors and Oscar de la Renta have incorporated nutria lining or trim in recent collections, and the fur has shown up on Etsy, the online store that specializes in handmade and vintage crafts, in the form of merkins — triangular patches sewn onto flesh-colored panties. The New York show will highlight creative uses of nutria fur. Alicia Zenobia, a young designer working in Brooklyn and New Orleans, will present a cocktail dress trimmed with strips of nutria and tiny bejeweled skulls made of clay. Her model will wear a black-and-white wig that looks like Cruella De Vil’s hair. Advertisement Continue reading the main story José Luis Rodriguez, a Venezuelan dancer who makes leather accessories in Louisiana, will show an evening gown and shoulder bag made with a patchwork of nutria hides. And Dana Embree, a costume designer in New Orleans who has worked on several movies and television shows, plans to go retro with a 1960s-style mini brocade halter dress with fur collar and gloves.

“I’m not like a PETA person, but still, I had to take a deep breath now and then,” Ms. Embree said. “I’d never worked with something that had eye holes.” Despite the nature of the fashion show, no PETA protests are expected. But that’s probably because nutria is still on the fringes. Advocates of nutria fur, meanwhile, are sticking to their eco-friendly message: it’s a fur coat, yes, but the animal had a cage-free life and an organic diet. Jessica Radcliffe, a New Orleans dollmaker and performance artist, won’t use leather in her work but has made several nutria stoles. “I personally don’t want to be in a position where I have to kill an animal,” she said. “But if it’s them or us, I don’t want to be a lily-livered sissy about it.” Correction: December 9, 2010 A picture caption on Nov. 18 with an article about the use of nutria pelts in fashion misspelled the given name of a fashion designer. She is Xiomara del Carmen, not Ziomara. Correction: December 2, 2010 An article on Nov.

18 about the use of nutria pelts in fashion misidentified the conservation group in Thibodaux, La., that was the main sponsor of a nutria fashion show on Nov. 21. It is the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program — not the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary Foundation, a separate group. A version of this article appears in print on November 18, 2010, on Page E9 of the New York edition with the headline: Nutria-Palooza: Is Their Pest Your Clean Conscience?. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe How to Get Rid of Nutrias Advice and professional help for nutria problems. How to Get Rid of Nutrias The nutria, or coypu as it is also known, is not a native to North America. Unfortunately, these animals that were once brought over with the intention of farming them for the fur trade have adapted amazingly well to the environment they found themselves in. Nutria are so acclimated now that they have become a nuisance animal on an extremely large scale in certain areas of the country.

Herbivores, these animals feed on important wetland grasses and have wipe out hundreds of thousands of acres of protected wetlands in the south. Not only do coypus eat the vegetation needed to prevent erosion, they are extensive burrowers and often compromise the integrity of water dikes and levees with their tunnel systems. Nutria are not to be mistaken for muskrats. Both rodents have similar appearances, but the coypu has a rounded tail and the muskrat’s is flat. Need nutria removal in your hometown? Click here for my nationwide list of hundreds of wildlife removal experts , serving all 50 states! Updated year 2017. Deterrent Tactics: To get rid of nutria you’ll have to venture into its territory. This can mean wading into swamps and other watery areas. Accessibility is a big component to successful nutria removal. If you cannot get into the area where the coypus are living, employing the use of floating rafts with set traps can be helpful. Nutria are not yard pests, so many of the deterrents on the market are not applicable to this animal.

There are no decoys, chemical deterrents, or predator-based methods to eliminate this rodent. Property owners are not allowed to poison nutria, though licensed professional are given that option if they feel the situation warrants it. For the average person, most departments of wildlife control recommend the use of a fence to exclude coypus from your property. This fence needs to be buried at least a foot underground to prevent burrowing beneath it. It is also advised that the top portion be electrified and turned on at dawn and dusk when the rodents are most active. If you have a vast property this isn’t a very cost effective method of control. Contouring your banks to prevent burrows is also an option, but again, this will require the use of heavy machinery which may not be able to reach the problem habitats. Improving drainage is always an option as long as the body of water being affected isn’t a vital part of a large ecosystem. Nutria Trapping: For most people, trapping and removing nutria is the most logical control method. Some states protect these animals because of their status as furbearing. Prior to trapping nutria, make sure you contact your local fish and game commission to see what permits and licenses are required.

Once you know you are in the clear, decide if you wish to live trap or lethally trap the nutria. Often, when an animal is sizeable enough to warrant either type of trap, the number of creatures ultimately decides which method will be most effective. Live trapping is very good for one or two problem animals. If you have a large population of coypus, lethal trapping may be the most effective means of removal. Given the nuisance concerns surrounding nutria, live trapping and relocation is not always advised. Like most semi-aquatic animals, nutria can be trapped using leg hold traps like coilspring and longspring which are the most commonly used. These leg hold traps are placed near baited areas, often inside the pathways and channels created by frequent coypu usage. Drowning sets and body gripping traps are placed in areas of deeper water where the nutria must swim to get into runs and channels. Both types of traps should be pre-baited prior to be set. Nutria are particularly fond of watermelon rinds, apples, carrots and potatoes. These bait foods are also vital for use with zinc phosphide, the only approved nutria toxicant available. Aside from trapping, shooting is considered an acceptable method of nutria control.

Many areas have special shooting locations and season for harvesting coypus. Regardless of the nuisance and environmental concerns surrounding this non-native species, the revenue generated by nutria trapping and shooting is well into the multimillion dollar range annually. NUTRIA BIOLOGY AND INFORMATION: Nutria Appearance: Often confused with the muskrat, nutrias are larger, with round tails. They are not, however, as large as beavers, growing to be approximately fifteen pounds at three feet long. Nutrias are easily identified by a white patch of hair around their mouths as well as by their bright orange teeth. Like other semi-aquatic animals, nutrias are often brown, and their fur was once highly sought after. Similar to the coat of an otter, nutrias have a fine layer of fur guarded by a coarse layer on top providing insulation. They have five toes on each paw, and the front feet are well designed for burrowing. The hind legs are longer than the front and boast webbed digits for better mobilization in the water. The nose and mouth of the nutria can be closed off while swimming underwater to prevent liquid intake. Another name for the nutria is coypu.

Nutria Habitat and Behavior: Coypus are impressive burrowers, creating a network of tunnels in and out of embankments, though above-ground areas for grooming are often seen. They are semi-aquatic, and will build their homes off the edge of a river or stream. Burrow systems can range up to fifty feet in length and will usually house a family group of coypu rodents. Families are mostly female with one adult male. Young males will live alone until they can procure a mate and start their own family group. They prefer fresh water, though they will occupy man-made basins and canals. The nutria cannot tolerate cold temperatures like its cousin, the muskrat, so its distribution is not as widespread. Native to South America, it was brought north with the hope of raising the animal for food and fur purposes. When the fur trade for coypu pelts went under, hundreds of the animals were released into the wild. Nutrias do not breed as abundantly as many other rodents. Females will give birth up to twice yearly, with offspring numbering around six. At four months of age, the coypu young are ready to breed on their own.

At this age, males will move out and create their own nests. Burrows may be small at first, but will eventually grow to have multiple exits as well as intersecting tunnels. On occasion, groups of nutrias will migrate in cold weather. They are prone to frost bite on their tails, and the loss of a tail would result in an untimely death. When migrating, the animals appear awkward on the land, walking with a hunched posture due to longer hind legs. If threatened, they are surprisingly fast, and can move across dry land efficiently. Nutria Diet: Nutrias are herbivores. They feed on a variety of aquatic plants. In rare instances they will feed on mussels and bird eggs. Bark and roughage is a staple of the nutria’s diet. Like all rodents, the front teeth grow continuously and must be kept at a reasonable length for the animal to be able to survive. Nutria Nuisance Concerns: Nutrias are not native to many parts of the world, and because of this invasive habitat change, they have caused widespread destruction through predation of vegetation. Coypus have devastated acres of wetlands.

They eradicated the grasses needed to delay erosion in areas of the Louisiana coast, destroying over one hundred thousand acres of wetlands. In addition of wiping out species of aquatic grasses, the nutrias also destroyed eggs and nests of endangered birds. The coypu population in Louisiana alone was over two million at the height of the problem. Bounties were placed on nutria pelts to help quell the invasion of these rodents. Nutria Diseases: The most common disease associated with nutria is caused by strongyloides myopotami. This is nematode which causes “nutria rash” in people who handle the rodent. In reality, the rash is the nematode entering the skin and being attacked by the immune system. These rodents also carry leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, and a host of other intestinal parasites. SOME SPECIFIC NUTRIA AREAS OF INTEREST: How To Get Rid Of Nutria In Your Yard Though the nutria is not an animal that is considered a high risk as a pest, they do in some rare cases become annoyances. They can invade the yard if they find a source of food.

If you have a plant like bamboo for example you may find it damaged one day because nutria can chew on it. Depending on the actual size of the nutria they may not even be deterred by dogs and traps may not be easy to find if at all. So how do you get rid of nutria in your yard? First you need to know what the incentive they have to come to the yard is and then remove it. If you are planning to trap the nutria or to use any other removal methods you should first become familiar with the laws regarding nutria in your area. Because they are an animal used for its fur there may be regulations on them or you may get paid for ‘harvesting’ them. Make sure to check into it as knowing what you can do can help you get rid of them quicker. How To Get Nutria From Your Basement Nutria in your basement can be one big scary surprise. Nutria is not the type of animal you would expect to find in your basement because of its size, but the river rat will get in there and when that happens, you need to know how to get it out. The first thing to know is that you should not try to handle nutria with your bare hands.

The rodent could bite and an infection can set which can become dangerous. The best thing to do to get the nutria out is to do so by using traps. When you look for traps it is important that you get the right size and bait. The size should be about 9x9 and about 32 inches deep. If the nutria is a bigger size then a bigger trap is needed. As far as the bait goes, you will need to place some inside the trap and some on the way leading to it. Some of the best bait that you could use to entice nutria is a combination of carrots and sweet potatoes. The traps are humane and depending on what you will be doing with the nutria you may decide to humanely dispose of them as well. Do not release them without checking with your local laws as they are a severe pest in most areas with a population. How To Get Rid Of Nutria In Your River Banks If you have nutria in your river banks it can quickly become a pest that extends outside of the river and into your yard. They can reproduce fast and they can then cause damage to your yard and garden.

Unfortunately there are also rules and laws that you have to know before you attempt to capture or move nutria; luckily most of them are favorable to you. Because you have them in your river bank it will be easier if they have just arrived. Giving Nutria a couple of months will make catching all of them almost impossible. So what is the best way to get rid of nutria in your river banks? If it is ok for you to trap and transport the nutria in your community, then the best thing to do would be to use traps. Traps must be gotten according to the size and the number of nutria that you are trying to catch. The bait of fresh fruits or vegetables can be used. Make sure to check with local laws as many areas want these pest animals removed. They are a fur-bearing animal so in some cases you would receive money for their tails or hides. What Diseases Do Nutria Carry? One of the reasons that animal control professionals recommend that you do not touch nutria is because they can carry diseases which can in some cases be transmitted to humans. The first thing to remember is that nutrias are rodents and therefore they can get diseases which most rodents are exposed to.

The first disease to be discussed is the nutria-itch or swimmer’s itch, which is transmitted through blood flukes and parasites. Scientists also believe that nutria can infect humans with a host of diseases, but the research is not complete as of yet on some of them. One of the biggest concerns when it comes to the diseases that nutrias carry comes from those with livestock. The reason for that fear is that the livestock will in some cases drink from the same water which is the habitat of the nutria. That water may be contaminated with feces and urine and that is how the disease can be transmitted. More research is being done to determine the chances of nutria infecting humans with leptospirosis, paratyphoid, hemorrhagic septicemia and others. © 2002-2017  Webmaster email  Residential & Commercial  Licensed & Insured nutria | rodent | Britannica.com Nutria Alternative Titles: coypu, Myocastor coypus Related Topics placental mammal Nutria (Myocastor coypus), also called coypu, a large amphibious South American rodent with webbed hind feet.

The nutria has a robust body, short limbs, small eyes and ears, long whiskers, and a cylindrical, scaly tail. It can weigh up to 17 kg (37.5 pounds), although 5 to 10 kg is usual; the body measures up to 70 cm (27.6 inches) long and the tail up to 45 cm. The yellowish or reddish brown coat contains coarse guard hairs overlying soft, dense underfur. Nutria (Myocastor coypus) feeding. Douglas Fisher The nutria is agile on land but is also a superb swimmer that can remain submerged for up to five minutes. It can close its mouth behind the incisor teeth, which allows it to cut submerged vegetation without swallowing water. A wide variety of aquatic vegetation is consumed, including grains, roots, rhizomes, stems, leaves, cattails, water lilies, duckweed, and white clover. Mussels and snails, however, are also part of the diet. Nutrias excavate short or elaborate burrows in riverbanks and lake margins. They also build platform nests in marshes and use floating platforms as feeding sites.

Breeding throughout the year, nutrias produce up to three litters of two to eight young annually; gestation takes about 135 days. Activity of these gregarious rodents depends upon season and location; they are nocturnal in most regions but in winter are active during the day. The nutria’s indigenous range extends from southern Brazil and Bolivia southward to Chile and Argentina, where it lives in slow-flowing streams, lakes, and freshwater marshes as well as brackish and saltwater habitats. Because of the fur trade’s demand for the nutria’s plush underfur, persistent hunting in the 19th and early 20th centuries caused populations to decline. Breeding farms were started in North America and Europe, and some animals escaped or were intentionally introduced into the wild. As a result, feral populations have become established in Canada and at least 15 U.S. states, and substantial populations of nutria in the south-central United States compete aggressively and successfully with the native muskrats . Nutrias are also now widespread in aquatic habitats from England to Central Asia , Japan, and East Africa .

Britannica Stories The Nutria Nuisance – Advocacy for Animals Contact Us The Nutria Nuisance Tweet Louisiana folklore holds that the roly-poly rodent called the nutria (Myocastor coypus), which looks something like a cross between a beaver and a rat, was brought to the bayous of that state, and thence to a good portion of the eastern United States, by the same folks who brought the fiery condiment called Tabasco sauce to a waiting world. Folklore is not history, and thatâ€™s not quite accurate. But it is true that the president of the McIhenny Company, back in the 1930s, made a curious choice whose implications remain with us today. In 1938, E.A. McIlhenny established a nutria farm on Avery Island, Louisiana, within shouting distance of the factory where the company that bears his family name makes Tabasco sauce. According to company history, McIlhenny bought his stock of nutrias from a farm in New Orleans, so he was not the first to introduce the creature, a native of southern Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, to North America. That dubious honor belongs to another.

What is certain, though, is that McIlhenny, for reasons unknown, released an unknown but probably large number of nutrias into the wild from the confines of Avery Island, and from there they fanned out and proliferated. By 1941, nutria had spread throughout the state and as far west as Port Arthur, Texas. In the next two decades they spread only a little farther down the Texas Gulf Coast, growing not in range but markedly in number, so much so that nutria were blamed for devastating sugarcane and rice harvests for several years running. The blame seems fairly assigned, for nutria, as the biological term has it, are â€œopportunistic feeders,â€ and they eat a quarter of their body weight daily, for an average of about five pounds of vegetation per animalâ€”and rice and sugarcane are fair game in the nutria larder. In 1958, the federal government instituted wildlife control programs in an effort to curb the spread and absolute number, estimated at more than 20 million, of nutria.

Resistance to those programs was widespread in the region, though, since thousands of Texans and Louisianans were were making their living harvesting nutria for their furâ€”and, to a lesser extent, their meat. The international fur market collapsed in the 1980s, and thereafter few people tried to earn their living from nutria trapping. The nutria population swelled again, and now it began to spread. A quarter-century later, nutria are now found in Canada and 16 American states, with the heaviest concentrations remaining in and around the Gulf Coast, but in significant numbers as far afield as coastal Maryland and Virginia. As their range and number have increased, nutria have crowded the native muskrat out of much of its former territory, and as of 1999 the animal has formally been considered an invasive species. That designation, in effect, declared open season on nutria. It took some time for that open warfare to make much of a dent in the nutria population, since the market for both nutria fur and meat remains limited, and the federal bounty offered until 2005 amounted to only $4 per animal.

Now, nutria in Britain, having escaped from confinement into the wild there in the 1970s, were wholly eradicated the following decade through just such a bounty program; but, as the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries notes, the affected area was ten times smaller than that stateâ€™s â€œinfested areas,â€ and the British government actually put trappers on salary rather than rely on a strict program of per-head bounty payment, yielding greater results. In addition, systematic eradication measures have proved to be difficult to put into wide practice. Zinc phosphide, for instance, was just as likely to poison other animals as it was nutria, while other rodenticides such as strychnine and warfarin travel far along the food chain and are potentially damaging to many species, including humans. Eradication efforts continue all the same.

In Marylandâ€™s Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, biologists removed invasive nutria in a program that began in 1998 and that terminated in 2004; reported the Washington Post when the program successfully ended, â€œAll it took was two years, $2 million and 15 trappers working in chest-deep muck here on the Eastern Shore. In all, about 8,300 nutria were killed during the eradication, which officials said was planned like a military campaign, using Global Positioning System equipment.â€ Having succeeded in one sector of the Eastern Shore, though, wildlife managers have yet to announce the results of one of the stated goals of the project, which was â€œdesigned to test the hypothesis that nutria can be eradicated on the Delmarva Peninsula,â€ as the Blackwater NWR Nutria Fact Sheet puts it. The situation is even more critical at the original ground zero of Louisiana, where it was once hoped that a silver lining in the great black cloud that was Hurricane Katrina would be a natural leveling of the nutria population.

Many nutria did in fact perish during the storm, as did many other animals, one of Katrinaâ€™s largely untold stories. Yet, as it happens, the nutria have made a comeback; their number is much reduced, granted, but they are wreaking even greater damage on Louisianaâ€™s coastal wetlands than before, since the tupelo-cypress habitat has been badly compromised by the â€œbriningâ€ of the marshes by the storm surge of both Katrina and its successor, Hurricane Rita, and the nutria are effectively making a bad situation worse. The nutria, of course, are blameless; they did not ask to be set loose on this continent. Yet, given the devastation nutria have wrought on already devastated wetlands and competing animals within their ecological niche, it seems clear that humane eradication is the only course of action. Just how â€œhumaneâ€ current methods are provides a matter for argument, but one odd fact has emerged: the lingering downturn in the economy may prove to be as dark a moment for nutria as it has for so many humans.

Reports John Roach for National Geographic, â€œThe 2005 to 2006 trapping season [in Louisiana], which runs from November 20 to March 31, yielded 168,843 nutria tails. The 2009 to 2010 season, by contrast, set a record: 445,963 nutria tails, according to state figures.â€ In hard times, it seems, $5â€”the old per-nutria bounty raised by a dollar after the hurricanes of 2005â€”makes a world of difference. —Gregory McNamee 10 Terrifyingly Huge Rodents - Listverse 10 Terrifyingly Huge Rodents Abraham Rinquist April 28, 2014 The mere mention of rodents evokes dread. For millennia, they have been our unwanted guests, creeping in the shadows, feasting on garbage, and spreading disease. Why do these critters elicit such powerful emotions? Is it because they are so alien? Because rodents offer a shadowy reflection of humanity? Or is it because they’re so small, they could be hiding anywhere?

That last one actually isn’t always true. Some specimens reach nightmarish proportions. Here are some of the giants. 10Nutria Photo credit: Norbert Nagel The Louisiana bayou is under attack. The enemy: nutria, a 6-kilogram (14 lb) South American rat. With a voracious appetite for aquatic vegetation, these rodents turn wetlands into open water. Without the bayou to absorb storm surges, flooding could wash away southern Louisiana. The family behind Tabasco sauce released nutria into Southern swamps in the 1930s, hoping to provide an alternative to the beaver fur trade. However, the Argentinian swamp rat pelt lacks beaver’s luster, so nutria fur never caught on. Now they are breeding out of control. A culinary event called Nutriafest was launched to promote eating the invasive rodent . Enthusiasts tout their flesh as having more protein than beef and less fat than farmed catfish. The stats might be on the nutria’s side, but they have a public relations problem.

Attempts to overcome their “wharf rat on steroids” image include re-branding them as “the bayou rabbit” or their French name, ragodin. Some suggest serving nutria to Louisiana’s prison population, but there is a fine line between experimental cuisine and cruel and unusual punishment. 9Laotian Giant Flying Squirrels Photo credit: Sci-News / Daosavanh Sanamxay et al Not all enormous rodents scurry in the shadows. Some take to the air. At around 108 centimeters (42 in) long, the Laotian giant flying squirrel is not just the largest flying squirrel—it’s the largest squirrel, period. Experts observed the first known specimen in a bush meat market in Laos, and no one knows how many exist. Only 10 other specimens have been found, and they all came from freezers. These flying squirrels don’t actually fly—they glide. A membrane of skin attached from ankle to wrist acts more like a parachute than true wings. Their tail acts as a stabilizer and cartilage rods in their wrist help steer. These arboreal adaptations weren’t enough to give the Laotian giant an edge, though—they are critically endangered.

The Laotian giant is the second known species of the Biswamoyopterus genus. The other is the Namdapha flying squirrel, which is known by a single specimen collected in 1981 from northeast India. Given the limited number of Biswamoyopterus in existence, no one knows the extent of their ranges. Other giant flying squirrels, like the red giant variety, range from Afghanistan to the islands of Southeast Asia. Like all flying squirrels, the red giant is arboreal and nocturnal. 8Castoroides Monster rodents haunted New York City long before the arrival of the sewer rat. The Big Apple had once been the home of Castoroides—bear-sized beavers who were 213 centimeters (7 ft) long and weighed over 90 kilograms (200 lb). For comparison, the largest modern beavers top out at 27 kilograms (60 lb). These prehistoric beasts died out 10,000 years ago, along with the other Pleistocene mega-fauna of New York like mammoths and saber-tooth cats. These mega-beavers figure prominently in the mythology of several Native American tribes of the Northeast.

In the legends of the Pocumtuk of Massachusetts, giant beavers are man-eaters. Given the limits of fossilized specimens, we have no idea whether they had webbed feet or a flat tail. Their teeth, however—15-centimeter (6 in) incisors—have remained for us to find. Did they use these dental daggers to chop trees? Or were these terrifying teeth designed to tear flesh? Modern beavers are no small animal themselves. These aquatic workaholics are the second-largest rodents alive, only outweighed by the South American capybara. Seventeenth-century fashionistas’ insatiable appetite for beavers’ lustrous, waterproof fur nearly drove the European variety to extinction and served as one of the primary justifications for exploration of Canada. These remarkable creatures can chop down trees, swim underwater for 15 minutes without breathing, and turn open fields and forest into ponds with their compulsive dam-building. Only humans outmatch beavers in their ability to alter environments. 7Swedish Viking Rats A giant brown rat recently fell victim to an industrial-sized snap trap in a Swedish suburban kitchen.

The creature was over 40 centimeters (16 in) long and chewed through solid concrete to enter the home. The rat survived the snap only to suffocate when it tried to drag the trap back into its lair. While there’s no evidence that rats in general are getting bigger in developed countries, the Viking rat could be the harbinger of a coming trend: mutant monster rats. Reports of mega rodents have emerged from all over Ireland, the UK, and the US. Experts say the brown rats are the size of cats, twice as big as they once were. Exterminators recently trapped a 61-centimeter (24 in) specimen in a Dublin flat. Not only are the rats getting bigger, they are mutating. These fast-breeding rodents have evolved an immunity to poison. Exterminators currently use bromadiolone but claim it no longer works. A 2009 study at the University of Huddersfield proved that genetic mutation has resulted in poison-resistant “super rats.” Are newer, more toxic cocktails needed? If so, how long until the rats mutate again? 6Capybara Photo credit: Karelj The capybara is the largest living rodent.

Haunting the steamy plains of South America, these semi-aquatic beasts top out over 45 kilograms (100 lb), about the size of labrador retrievers. Traditionally, Venezuelans eat capybara on Easter. Their meat is a delicacy, described as “anchovy meets pork.” According to Venezuelan tradition, capybara can be eaten during Lent because the Catholic Church supposedly condoned the practice in the 18th century, claiming it is actually a type of fish. Most diners would probably prefer not to know that this monster rodent has a nasty habit of eating its own feces. Some folks have domesticated these rodents. Pet capybara spend most of their days in pools. They get along well with cats, dogs, and horses, but reports suggest they enjoy taunting rabbits and get vexed by tortoises. A word of warning: Capybara can be aggressive. Their teeth are sharp, and bites are no laughing matter. Far larger rodents than capybara once roamed Venezuela. In Urumaco, 400 kilometers (250 mi) west of Caracas, scientists unearthed a rodent 10 times bigger than the current heavyweight champ.

Phoberomys pattersoni was a relative of modern guinea pigs. Eight million years ago, this 700-kilogram (1,500 lb) “Guineazilla” roamed the banks of ancient rivers, possibly in huge packs. Urumaco was a home to giants of all varieties—the largest turtle ever, some of the largest crocodiles, and an array of unidentified monstrous fish once lived alongside Guineazilla. Experts believe these oversize rodents went extinct because they were too large to hide from predators. Bigger isn’t always better. 5The Gough Island House Mouse Killer rodents have taken over Gough Island. Two million mice run rampant on this lonely outpost in the South Atlantic. These bloodthirsty rodents are 50 percent larger than mice elsewhere. The non-native critters fuel their supersized growth with Atlantic petrel chicks. Gough Islands is a principal breeding ground for the sea bird—but it won’t be for long. On nearby Tristan da Cunha, black rats have already devoured a separate petrel population. These invasive rodents have no predators to fear on these far-flung islands.

The Gough Island mice have been known to attack and devour chicks of the Tristan albatross, which are 300 times larger than the mice. Analysis reveals that 1.25 million of the 1.6 million petrel chicks born per year on Gough Island are gobbled up by mice. Remote South Atlantic outposts aren’t the only islands affected by invasive rodents. The Farallon Islands, 45 kilometers (28 mi) from San Francisco’s Golden Gate, have developed a nasty reputation for infestations. As a refuge manager at the US Fish and Wildlife service explained, “There are so many mice it looks like the ground is moving . . . When you stay on the island, they crawl over you when you sleep in your bed.” Brought over accidentally by fur traders, the Farallon mice boast the highest population density of non-native island rodents anywhere in the world. Everyone agrees that something needs to be done to combat the mice and stop their predation of the endangered ashy storm petrel, but not everyone agrees on the method. The plan to carpet bomb the island with pesticide from helicopters has been met with disapproval.

Many are concerned with the ethics of poison and the impact it will have on both petrels and burrowing owls, which prey on the island’s mice. Plus, the poison would need to kill every mouse. A single pregnant female could repopulate the island. There is a precedent for island rodent eradication. Recently, Rat Island in the Aleutian chain re-branded itself “Hawadax Island” after biologists successfully exterminated the invasive brown rat population on the island with poison. Not surprisingly, there are fewer bleeding hearts in Alaska than the Bay Area. 4Josephoartigasia In 1981, scientists excavating around Montevideo, Uruguay found the remains of a 53-centimeter (21 in) skull. It was larger than a cow’s, but it bore an unmistakable pair of incisors. The bones belonged to the Josephoartigasia, the largest rodent ever. This prehistoric beast dominated the woodlands of South America four million years ago. Analysis of the skull suggested a creature as large as a bull, up to 244 centimeters (8 ft) long and weighing over a ton.

This monster resembled a giant capybara and was more closely related to guinea pigs and porcupines than mice and rats. The teeth of the Josephoartigasia suggest a diet of aquatic vegetation and fruit, but that does not imply passivity. These mega-rodents lived in a hostile world of saber-tooth cats, meat-eating marsupials, and 3-meter (10 ft) birds of terror. Perhaps their teeth were used for defense or by males to fight over breeding rights. 3Bosavi Woolly Rats In 2009, scientists stumbled upon a lost world: the Bosavi crater. Even the local Kasua tribe, who provided trackers for the research party, rarely set foot inside the crater. With steep walls nearly 800 meters (0.5 mi) high, the Bosavi crater is an evolutionary island. This volcanic depression in the Papua New Guinea highlands contained 40 species new to science and believed to exist nowhere else on Earth: 16 amphibians, one gecko, three fish, a gang of spiders and arachnids, a marsupial, and the largest known true rat .

The rat has been tentatively named the “Bosavi woolly rat,” as it is so new to science that it has no official name. The 81-centimeter (32 in) creature with a lush, silvery coat was incredibly docile, indicating that it has had no exposure to humans. While the Bosavi woolly rat is the largest living rat, much larger specimens stalked the jungles of Southeast Asia as recently as 1,000 years ago. Archeologists in East Timor unearthed the bones of a rat three times larger than the Bosavi specimen dating from this period. These extinct giants weighed up to 6 kilograms (13 lb). East Indonesia is a “hot-spot” for rodent evolution. The giant rat expedition uncovered the remains of 13 rodent species, 11 of which were unknown to science. Given the dense forest and difficult terrain of East Timor, it is possible that new, even larger specimens are waiting to be discovered. No one knows what is out there. 2Giant Hutia Over 100,000 years ago, the Caribbean island of Anguilla was ruled by monsters: rats twice the size of men.

These bear-sized beasts are known as Ambyrhiza, also called the giant hutia, and they were 1,000 times larger than a modern rat. These creatures were heavy and slow, indicating that they had no predators. The fossil record confirms that there were no other large mammals on the island at this time. The island the giant hutia stalked was much larger than it is today. Due to reduced sea levels during the last ice age, St. Barts, St. Martin, and Anguilla were all part of one island known as Greater Anguilla, which was 12 times larger than the current island. When the ice age ended and the sea level rose, the giant hutia could not adapt to its smaller environment. It went the way of the dodo. There are much smaller hutia cousins still alive in the Caribbean, though most top out at just over 2 kilograms (5 lb), a far cry from the giants of Anguilla. Modern hutias are all too common around Guantanamo Bay , where they are known as “banana rats.” The “banana” part of their name refers not to their taste in food but the size and shape of their feces.

1Cape Porcupines Photo credit: Kati Fleming The Cape porcupine of southern Africa is the largest of its prickly brethren. These beasts can grow up to 27 kilograms (60 lb), making them the third-largest living rodents. Only the capybara and beaver outweigh these monsters. Cape porcupines have over 30,000 individual quills. These 8-centimeter (3 in), razor-sharp hairs detach easily and regrow, providing the most terrifying line of defense in the rodent family. Porcupine quills have been used in decorations and tools for millennia, and new applications are emerging all the time. For example, experiments revealed that porcupine quills pierced pig flesh with half the pressure required for a hypodermic needle. Additionally, their barb-like design makes them extremely difficult to remove, which could prove beneficial for securing medical implants. Given their truly terrifying weaponry, it’s fortunate that Cape porcupines are not aggressive. They spend their time on the ground, foraging for roots, tubers, and other delicacies from the forest floor at night.

These mellow monsters are among the longest-lived in the rodent family, holding on for 20 years in captivity. Cape porcupines mate for life, meaning their marriages often last longer than the human variety. Abraham Rinquist is the Executive Director of the Winooski, Vermont branch of the Helen Hartness Flanders Folklore Society. He is co-author of Codex Exotica and Song-Catcher: The Adventures of Blackwater Jukebox . More Great Lists coypu - definition and meaning coypu Definitions from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition n. A large aquatic South American rodent (Myocastor coypus) having webbed feet and a long tail. Also called nutria. from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License n. A large, crepuscular, semiaquatic rodent (Myocastor coypus) resembling a large rat, having bright orange-yellow incisors, native to South America, Europe, Asia and North America, valued for its fur in eastern Europe and central Asia and considered a pest elsewhere. from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English n.

A South American rodent (Myopotamus coypus), allied to the beaver. It produces a valuable fur called nutria. from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. n. aquatic South American rodent resembling a small beaver; bred for its fur Etymologies from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition American Spanish coipú, from Araucanian kóypu. from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License Spanish coipú, from Mapudungun koypu. Examples They are also known as coypu, Greek for mouse and beaver and the preferred designation of biologists.

In Venezuela, Rodents Can Be a Delicacy - The New York Times The New York Times Americas |In Venezuela, Rodents Can Be a Delicacy Search Americas | San Fernando de Apure Journal In Venezuela, Rodents Can Be a Delicacy Continue reading the main story SAN FERNANDO DE APURE, Venezuela , March 17 — As dusk fell on the tropical wetland crawling with iguanas and small crocodilian caimans, José Ismael Jiménez pointed his harpoon at a rodent about the size of a Labrador retriever. With aim that comes from years of practice, he landed his spear on the back of its head. But this hunt was not about ridding the country’s southern plains of varmints. It was about what’s for dinner. The hunter’s only goal was the meat of the capybara, reputed to be the world’s largest rodent. Unlike other South American countries, including Argentina and Brazil, where capybaras are raised mainly for their hides, here the rodent’s meat is a sought-after delicacy, fetching prices almost double those for beef. “This job is harder than cattle,” Mr.

Jiménez said while on a nighttime hunt on Hato Santa Luisa, a ranch spread over more than 40,000 acres on Venezuela’s plains. “But it’s just as rewarding.” Mr. Jiménez, a wiry llanero, as the plainsman cowboys of this part of Venezuela are known, and seven other hunters armed with .22-caliber rifles and steel pipes, killed 18 capybaras during their foray. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The annual hunt comes before Easter, when capybara has a status in Venezuela similar to that of turkey during Thanksgiving. While the Roman Catholic Church generally forbids eating meat during certain days of Lent, many Venezuelans insist that the capybara is more akin to fish than to meat. That may have something to do with how salted capybara tastes, resembling a mixture of sardines and pork. Legend has it that eating capybara, known here as chigüire (pronounced chee-GWEE-reh), got a boost in the 18th century when the local clergy asked the Vatican to give capybara the status of fish.

Scientists’ assertions that capybara is neither fish nor fowl has not dented its popularity in Venezuela. In fact, the meat is so coveted throughout the year that poachers nearly wiped out the country’s capybara population, until the authorities limited hunting of the wild rodent to controlled amounts on private land. “We’re conditioned poorly in the United States to think of rodents as rats in sewers and such things,” said Rexford D. Lord, a capybara expert at Indiana University of Pennsylvania whose book, “Mammals of South America,” which profiles the capybara, was published this year by the Johns Hopkins University Press. “Actually capybara meat is delicious,” Mr. Lord said in a telephone interview. “It’s more like rabbit than chicken, though when dried with sea salt in Venezuela it acquires a fishy flavor.” Capybara aficionados include President Hugo Chávez, who grew up in Barinas, a state on Venezuela’s steamy plains where capybaras are common. On his television show, “Hello, President,” Mr. Chávez has promoted capybara empanadas washed down with papaya juice. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address.

Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy Eating rodents is not unheard of elsewhere. In Louisiana the nutria, which resembles a small capybara — but with a tail — finds its way onto dinner plates. Or witness the relish with which diners in Ecuador and Peru savor cuy, or guinea pig. In Caracas chefs have tried elevating capybara to haute cuisine. Never mind that capybaras have some unusual habits like eating their own feces. And yes, some chefs acknowledge, the methods used to kill capybaras, normally involving a sharp clubbing of the rodent’s head, put off some diners. “We’re not asking for the capybaras to be put to death while listening to Vivaldi, but something could be done to make the practice less brutal,” said Víctor Moreno, the head chef at the Center for Gastronomic Studies, a Caracas cooking school. “Capybara is an exquisite meat that deserves prominent stature in our culinary tradition.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story It remains more popular in Venezuela’s rural interior than in the capital.

Though found from Panama to Argentina, biologists estimate that no more than a few hundred thousand of the animals survive in Venezuela. Most of the capybaras are on large private cattle ranches, where fences and armed guards have curbed illicit hunting. “The capybara is easier to steal than a cow, so there’s still a bit of thievery that takes place on some ranches,” said Reynaldo Alvarado, 46, the foreman in charge of the capybara hunt at Hato Santa Luisa. Still, he said, some male capybaras can weigh as much as 140 pounds and measure four feet long. “Those ones are very special,” Mr. Alvarado said. Authorities delayed granting licenses for this year’s hunt, tightening the time available to 20 days from one month. So the hunt, normally a harried affair, was all the more frenzied this year. Like other ranches, Hato Santa Luisa was allowed to kill 20 percent of its capybara population, or about 1,400 of the rodents.

The ranch pays the hunters, mostly idle ranch hands and recently discharged soldiers, 17,000 bolívars a day, about $8. Driven to the ranch’s swamps around sunset in a cart hauled by a John Deere tractor, the hunters use flashlights to find their prey. They say capybaras are less likely to flee at night. Though the preferred method for hunting them is with a small rifle, sometimes that does not work when capybaras, semiaquatic by nature, escape into murky ponds or creeks. Hence the steel pipes used to club them, or the harpoon, which requires better aim from a distance. The hunt also poses risks for the hunters: piranhas and small caimans swim in the same waters as the desired rodent. And adult capybaras, while docile when young, are known to bite when threatened. “The pursuit is very hard,” said Abel Vargas, 42, a pipe-wielding hunter who wore a pair of goggles for diving after capybaras. Mr. Vargas said he especially liked cooked kidney of capybara. Are the kidneys a matter of taste? “No,” he said.

“Of hunger.” A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Health Inspectors Take Note: Rodents Can Be a Delicacy. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Nutria | Twisted South Magazine by Staff Writer The nutria rat, or Myocastor Coypus, is a large, herbivorous rodent that looks similar to a beaver with a rat-like tail. These critters can grow up to 20 pounds and nearly two feet long with another foot of tail. It has a coarse, dark brown outer fur and a very soft under-fur. Two distinguishing marks are a white patch of fur on the muzzle of the animal and its webbed hind feet. It also has bright, orange-yellow incisor teeth that are easily visible. While it is originally native to South America, this rodent was introduced to North America by fur ranchers. Although its fur is still valued in some regions, it is primarily known for its destructive feed- ing and burrowing. The problems that this large rat creates have branded it a pest in the South. The nutria has been known to destroy irrigation systems, and can be devastating to aquatic vegetation.

anteojos ray ban In Louisiana, it has been blamed for the destruction of tires, wooden home paneling, and riverbanks, and even the displacement of native animals. The damage in Louisiana was so severe that in 2005, a bounty hunter program went into effect to try and control the nutria population. In addition to the environmental damage it causes, the nutria is also the host to a nematode parasite that can infect human skin. The condition is known as “nutria itch.” The nutria lives primarily in burrows along rivers and other stretches of water, feeding on the plants that grow in and around the bank. The nutria is a wasteful critter, and will gnaw plants at the stem, eat- ing less than ten percent of it. It will move on to the next one, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction. oakley mp3 sunglasses From the ’50s through the ’70s, the nutria was dramatically displayed at carnivals and sideshows as a giant, murderous rat.

A south Louisiana woman claims in a lawsuit that a nutria known as Norman ran at her in a large, well-known box store, scaring her into a panic attack resulting in a foot injury that required surgery. Reportedly, employees at the store in Abbeville, Louisiana, not only knew a wild animal was at large in the store, but had given it a pet name and negligently failed to warn people about it. Rebecca White had a full shopping cart when “suddenly and without warning a large wild nutria came from behind the Coke rack and ran straight towards” her on October 11, 2008. Fearing for her safety, she “pulled her shopping cart towards her to protect her from the large vicious-looking rat.” We could probably all understand the scare, but Norman was probably just trying to say “hi.” Weird Wild Realm: Nutria as Pets Here's a photo of "Baby" a pet nutria at five months of age standing in a bathtub, reaching up to check out a baby-toy. Notice Baby's webbed hind feet.

Can you say, "ahhhhh, ain't he cute." You can read all about Baby at his own website, & check out other pictures of Baby & a couple of his fellow nutrias. Nutria "Swamp Rats" as Pets by Paghat the Ratgirl Many people have claimed the nutria or coypu makes a pretty good pet in terms of its docility & affection for people, though they don't appear to be commonly kept as pets. For most people, lacking a farm & a pool, the nutria is not apt to be a very easy animal to care for properly. It's scientific name is Myocastor coypus. Mycocaster means "Mouse Beaver" & the species name is derived from Coypu, a South American Indian name meaning "water rodent." In captivity they are voracious, eating rabbit pellets with a great amount of varied fruits & vegetables & grasses. Like rabbits, they will eat their own feces pellets to extract further nutriants. They can live to a record of 10 & 12 years though usually only 6 years (compared to a scant three years in the wild) so are rather a long-term commitment.

They have been semi-domesticated as commercial fur animals in South America. They extended their range into North America only after domestic nutria escaped from fur farms in the 1930s. They are now naturalized citizens of American swamplands, extremely common in Louisiana where they have caused considerable environmental harm by burrowing into banks & damaging dykes & irrigation systems. Their bayou populations reached their highest peak in the 1970s. Since then, the alligator's return from the brink of extinction has kept the nutria somewhat in check. Though not native of North America they are now common in many regions, most famously in Louisiana but also in 17 other states including here in the Pacific Northwest. Feral populations have also survived in Europe & Asia after escape from fur farms. The demise of the fur industry, for which the nutria was always marginal in the first place, means there is no longer much of a domesticated use for them. They have begun to be accepted as an ethnic food item, so a few are being hunted from the wild. They are also called "swamp rats" & often unflatteringly described.

People who agree they are terribly appealing would rather compare them to beavers, though with scaled rat-like tails. The name "nutria" became more widely used after Louisiana restaurants wanted them to sound nutritious rather than on the menu as "pan fried swamp rats." No doubt many of the tourists who order frankly don't even know what they're eating. But the word nutria is only concidentally homonymous with nutrition; it is actually the Spanish word for "Otter" & when Spanish books speak of the nutria they never mean the coypu. The picture above right is of a pet nutria being handed a piece of toast. His name is Toro & he's disabled; he would never have lived a long life without human assistance. Toro & his cousin Snapper come & go pretty much as they please from a nearby creek. You can read a little bit about Toro at Twoey's Website, though there's some adult material at that site too, so be careful. The third picture on this page, on the left, is of Dave Horn with his pet nutria. Dave used to have quite a lovely website with miscellaneous whimsies about family life on the Siuslaw River in Oregon, but alas that site is now gone.

Nutrias are bigger than muskrats, & on average about a third the size of a beaver, which is still pretty darned big for a rodent. Although 20 pounds fully grown is typical, occasionally an old fat male weighs in at 50 pounds. So as pets, they present the same housing problems as other enormous rodents, before even getting 'round to their need for a large swimming area. Ideally anyone who attempted to keep them captive as pets would provide them a large enclosed goldfish pool, or an artificial bog, but might get by with a large gnaw-proof enclosure with a built-in full-sized bathtub. The last photo on this page is of a pet nutria who lives in a goldfish pond & comes to the edge to beg to be fed. It is harmless to any goldfish in the pond, being strictly a vegetarian. They are usually nocturnal but will learn to be up days if played with a great deal. They quickly learn that the presence of people means they'll be given treats of banana or muskmelon.

Many a cute "park" nutria learns to come out of the water & beg for bread along with the ducks, or to irritate duffers on golfing greens by snatching golfballs in their yellow incisors & running off with them into the water. copyright � by Paghat the Ratgirl Meat from a 20-lb swamp rat: taste test / Boing Boing Meat from a 20-lb swamp rat: taste test By Chris Metzler Rodents of Unusual Size do exist. We know because we just ate one. Here's how it happened. Jeff Springer, Quinn Costello, and I are making a documentary, Rodents of Unusual Size , about the legions of 20 pound swamp rats that are eating away the fragile coastal wetlands of Louisiana. These giant rodents, known as nutria, were imported from Argentina in the 1930’s for their fur by the guy who invented Tabasco sauce, among many others. But after a series of unfortunate events the nutria escaped into the wild and the nutria population exploded.

Since nutria are vegetarians at heart they have proceeded to feast on the roots of wetland plants and have transformed much of the Bayou into high salinity wastelands. These "dead zones" no longer provide a functional buffer against hurricanes and also threaten the biodiversity that supports migratory bird and plant life. To do battle with this invasive species the Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries has encouraged folks to do their part by eating these free-range rodents. Let’s say that, even with famed Louisiana chefs like Paul Prudhomme taking a stab at swamp rat sausages, tamales, jerky and other creations, people have been reluctant to embrace nutria for human consumption. But while on location filming we kept hearing stories about the nutria’s delicious, low fat, high protein meat and coastal residents who celebrated the nutria as tasting “better than steak.” So we thought, gators like to snack on nutria, why not us? report this ad report this ad After-all we are offering artisanally prepared nutria meat as one of the rewards as part of our Kickstarter fundraising campaign and we couldn’t unleash it onto the world without giving it a try. The anticipation was huge.

Would it be “better than steak” as one of our interviewees swore it would? Would it taste like a swamp rabbit? Would it even be edible? You can check out our thoughts and impressions in our video review . Some hearty hunters bagged 8 nutrias for us and we had them processed by a butcher who was legendary for his skills at making nutria not only palatable, but delectable. Three ways to prepare the meat did battle in our scientifically rigorous taste test: Snack Stix, sausage on a bun (with a touch of Tabasco sauce) and nutria jambalaya. Nutria Snack Stix - This curious item runs about 6” to 7” in length. They are basically like a thicker Slim Jim minus the snap. Overall, what you're going to notice on the first bite is a strong smoky natural meat flavor, but one that is well countered by the Cajun seasonings and a moderate amount of heat that builds up with each chew. They have a fresh pepperoni like kick with an oily surface feel. The stix have some flexibility to them and don’t easily crack open with any amount of bending. Chewing was easy and there isn’t a high degree of saltiness.

We decided that the mixture of the flavors helped to make the nutria meat palatable but the addition of the spices seemed to be hiding the actual flavor of the meat. Our findings were inconclusive. Nutria Cajun Sausage - These chunky links tasted wild and exotic. The slight garlic and cayenne flavors percolated on the tongue, but were quickly overwhelmed by a taste we have to describe as the flavor of the “swamp”. One of us thought it tasted like a morgue, while another tasted a hint of walnuts. You’re definitely in unique flavor country here as the true taste of the nutria meat really came out, for a perplexing culinary experience. This item provides a nice real meat flavor for a medium grind sausage that can work well on the grill if its tended carefully, but given the meat’s natural leaness you have to watch that it doesn’t get too dry. If we were to try it again we’d choose to boil it in water or an Abita beer, bratwurst style. Nutria Jambalaya - Like a film crew, the nutria meat seems to work best in collaboration.

It really shined in this dish as it easily took on all of the spices & flavors associated with Louisiana cooking. The long simmer and slow cooking time resulted in a soft, moist meat and a jambalaya with a light tanginess and a smoky background in each bite. We’re not convinced eating nutria meat will ever go mainstream, as heck look at those big orange teeth and long rat like tail. Nonetheless, nutria can be quite tasty. It truly is the other OTHER white meat. If you are interested in scoring some nutria meat for yourself or checking out some clips from the film, you can visit the ongoing Kickstarter campaign for Rodents of Unusual Size here:

Question: Nutria is the name given to the sought-after fur of which rodent?
Answer: COYPU