“Cuddly,” “adorable,” and “cute” are not words used to describe the nutria. More likely, it would be referred to as “gross,” “dirty,” and “destructive.” The raccoon-size rodent is in the spiny rat family native to South America. Considered pests and an invasive species, nutrias are prevalent in at least 40 states and have spread across most of Texas, including the Highland Lakes.
The nutria is known by several names: river rat, swamp beaver, nutria-rat, coypu, and R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size). The semi-aquatic super-rats damage crops, destroy wetlands, cause bank erosion, and spread pathogens to animals and humans.
Fur traders imported the animals in 1899 to bolster a thriving fur market, which still uses the dense, soft, plush, and dyeable nutria underfur for linings and trims.Nutria ranches were established in several states in the 1930s, just before the booming fur industry went belly-up in the 1940s.
Once the value of nutria fur decreased, ranched nutria became a liability to those raising them. Thousands were set free to roam while others were relocated by federal and state agencies as a form of weed control.
Turned loose on the weeds, nutria instead showed a preference for valuable vegetation. They feasted on crops and native aquatic vegetation, damaging environments and costing farmers. As the rodents multiplied, they also contaminated water supplies, spreading diseases and parasites.
Nutria have high-set eyes, ears, and nostrils on their large heads that stay above water when swimming. Other distinguishing features are a pair of large, yellow-orange front teeth and long, white whiskers on each side of a white muzzle.
The nutria’s thick, round, scaly, rat-like tail is sparsely covered in bristly hair. The heavy, high-arched body measures about 2.5 feet long, the tail adding another 12 inches to the overall length. Nutria fur is typically dark brown with red or yellow tones. The underfur is a slate-gray. The animal’s short front legs have paws with non-webbed toes, while the longer hind legs have feet with webbed toes, making it an excellent swimmer. It sounds much like a cow mooing.
Unlike many animals, nutria do not build protective structures for shelter but burrow into steep banks around water, where they usually live in colonies. In the Highland Lakes area, they are found near and in the lakes, rivers, golf course ponds, and storm drains. Any body of water will do.
Nutrias are vegetarian. One animal will eat nearly one-quarter of its body weight in plants, tubers, and roots daily. They are partial to aquatic plants and will quickly overgraze an area, causing bank erosion.
The nutria’s few natural predators include alligators, cottonmouth snakes, hawks, and owls. Some people eat nutria. In fact, some conservationists encourage it. No, it doesn’t taste like chicken, the “experts” say. It tastes, instead, like a wild rabbit. Like rabbit meat, nutria meat is lean with more protein, less fat, and lower cholesterol per 100 grams than turkey, chicken, or beef.
Nutria are precocial, born fully furred, eyes open, and able to walk, swim, and eat vegetation within hours. Females can reproduce at three months of age, breed again within a day of giving birth, and typically have two to three litters a year. Litter size ranges from two to 13 babies. Females have teats on their backs to nurse their young while in the water.
Habitat manipulation can help control the nutria population. Make an area less appealing to nutria with good drainage and by minimizing weeds and eliminating steep slopes at the water’s edge. Bulkheads and buried fences discourage nutria from moving in. Trapping and relocating the animals just relocates the problem.
A Texas hunting license is required to kill nutria, which can be hunted year-round. Although an animal causing damage may be taken at any time without a license, no portion of the nuisance fur-bearer can be possessed, sold, or retained without a trapper’s license.
Nutrias are not the type of wildlife nature lovers want to see on their outings. If you do spot one, more are likely to be around, so use caution. These Rodents of Unusual Size will respond aggressively when cornered. If you manage to capture and kill one and want to take a taste test, you’ll find recipes at nutria.com.
NUTRIA NUGGETS
- Strong swimmers, nutrias can go great distances underwater, staying submerged for up to five minutes.
- Nutrias have valves in their mouths and nostrils to seal out water when submerged.
- The iron in a nutria’s diet makes its teeth orange.
- Most of the world calls the nutria “coypu” and refers to its pelt as “nutria.”
- Maryland spent 20 years and $30 million in an attempt to eradicate the animals. Texas has no program to control nutrias, which it considers an invasive species.
- Louisiana has suffered significantly from nutria damage and offers a bounty for dead ones.