What domestic nutria looks like and where the animal lives, breeds and species status

The water rat, or nutria, is a fur-bearing animal with valuable fur and meat. The animal is found in the wild and attracts hunting enthusiasts for sport. These large rodents live in swampy areas and are easily tamed. Standard and colored species of domestic nutria have been selectively bred. The appearance and habits of the animal are associated with a semi-aquatic lifestyle.

What does nutria look like: description

The scientific name for nutria is coipu, or swamp beaver. External characteristics of the animal:

• large head;
• small round ears;
• rounded muzzle;
• long vibrissae;
• membranes between the toes of the hind paws;
• hard long fur;
• flexible scaly tail 45 centimeters long.

The body length of nutria is 60 centimeters. Females have 4-5 pairs of mammary glands on their sides to feed their young in the water. The water rat is a member of the nutria family and the order of rodents. The animal's mouth and nose are adapted for obtaining food in a body of water. The incisors protrude in front of the upper divided lip, so water does not enter the mouth when biting off underwater plants.

The animal's fur is water-repellent and thicker on the belly, which helps retain heat. The coat consists of hard long guards and soft undercoat. Nutria looks like a cross between a beaver and a rat. Translated from Spanish, the name of the animal means “otter”. The same family includes the hutia, an arboreal rodent from Jamaica, as well as the zaghouti, an animal from the forests of Haiti, similar to a guinea pig.

Why do nutria have orange teeth?

The color of nutria's teeth changes as they grow older. In newborn babies they are white. From the second month of life, the incisors turn yellow. By the sixth month, water rats' teeth become intensely orange. The bright color of the teeth appears in Koipu due to the high iron content. Nutria incisors are covered with thin iron fibers. Orange teeth mean the animal is young and healthy. In sick and old animals, spots appear on the enamel.

How much does the animal weigh

The weight of wild nutria is 5-12 kilograms. Females are lighter than males. Pets on farms reach weights of 16 kilograms, as their diet includes foods that promote weight gain.

The weight of cubs at birth is 150-170 grams, sometimes 200 grams. By the age of one month, koipus gain 800 grams of weight. At three months, nutria weigh up to three kilograms. A maximum of 25 grams is added per day, but after reaching one year of age. In early childhood, cubs gain little weight.

The animals' mobility contributes to rapid weight gain. Water rats that regularly practice swimming weigh more than their sedentary relatives. The weight of meat after cutting the carcass is 53 percent of the total body weight of living nutria.

Where does he live?

Nutria lives in swampy areas, in reed thickets of salt lakes. The animal tolerates frosts down to -35 degrees. But the animal is not adapted to life in constant cold. The rodent's tail quickly freezes. Frostbite causes necrosis and sepsis. Koipu do not have the habit of insulating nests and burrows, so in cold climates the cubs die, despite their thick fur. Nutria dwellings are rarely found in the foothills and are not found at all in deciduous forests.

Nutria originate from South America. Habitat: Bolivia, southern Brazil, Chile. They tried to acclimatize the animals to Africa. But water rats lacked moisture on the arid continent. The climate of North America and Europe suited the Koipu best. The animals have also taken root in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Hunters discovered that water rats have tasty meat. In order not to fly to the “land of wild monkeys” for the delicacy, a great migration of Koipu was organized.

Varieties of nutria

Modern Koipu differ in color. Wild nutria have brown-brown fur. But during the period of domestication, experiments began on breeding new species. During the first experiments, albino nutria appeared. But she was not suitable for breeding and procreation. Later, by crossing individuals of different colors, modern colored species were obtained.

Domestic nutria breeds:

• beige - popular among breeders due to its high fertility, has a light coat and a dark undercoat. The color is closer to sand and cream than to brown. But there are also dark specimens with a smoky gray and chestnut tint to the undercoat;
• white - distinguish between Azerbaijani and creamy white Italian varieties. The Italian nutria has an expressive look. Snow-white animals are born only to purebred parents. The Azerbaijani water rat's fur and undercoat have the same structure, so the color is uniformly white. Its meat tastes superior to rabbit;
• golden - the bright color on the back becomes lighter closer to the belly, the coat is shiny. The breed is considered unique due to the pinkish tint of the undercoat. To ensure that the majority of babies are born golden, purebred females or males are crossed with a member of the nutria breed of a different color;
• lemon - the name does not reflect the actual color of the animal. The orange water rat resembles a grapefruit or orange. Golden, Italian and beige breeds took part in the breeding. Purebred and mixed-breed crosses produce golden, white and lemon-colored babies;
• mother-of-pearl - the fur of animals is colored unevenly, gray with a light tint, with distinct zones. Mother-of-pearl parents give birth to babies of the same color, as well as white and beige.A dirty shade is a sign of marriage;
• snowy - gray-blue nutria can be bred by crossing a pearlescent light female and a golden male. To produce more offspring, snow water rats are crossed with white breeds;
• black - in young nutria there is a zonal difference in color. When black water rats are crossed with members of their own breed or another breed, most of the babies will be black. For the first time, a breeding experiment was successful among Argentine breeders;
• Pastel - The pastel variety of water rats are colored in various shades of brown, are born dark and lighten as adults. The breed was obtained after crossing the pearlescent and black varieties;
• cream - the color combines brown and beige, blue-gray legs have a pink tint. The fur of creamy nutria becomes valuable when the animals reach one and a half years old. At an older age, the coat turns unpleasantly yellow.

A simple and popular standard breed of animals is distinguished by a combination of all shades of color. Its ancestor is the common river nutria, so the main color is brown.

The species diversity of Koipu includes combined and mutation breeds. A dominant group of animals is also identified, whose genes are passed on to their offspring. It includes Azerbaijani, golden and black nutria. A separate group is distinguished with recessive characteristics - pearlescent, beige, smoky breeds.

Dangers and Enemies

Nutria are hunted by:

• fox;
• wolf;
• jackal;
• water snakes;
• alligator;
• jaguar;
• puma.

A harrier bird attacks a coipa from the air. Water rats have well-developed hearing. They hear the steps of a hunter or a sneaking predator long before they appear in sight. At suspicious sounds, the animals quickly run away.But koipu are not capable of running long distances.

If the animal senses danger near the hole, it will have time to hide in the tangled passages. A pond will also be a salvation for the rodent - under water it escapes from its pursuers. But far from home, predators easily catch up with the water rat, despite its zigzag dashes.

Finding himself alone with the enemy, the koipu enters into battle. The animal's weapons are sharp claws and teeth. With its long front incisors, the rodent bites into the throat of a predator twice its size. A frozen pond turns into a death trap for nutria. The rodent does not know how to look for thawed patches and drowns under the ice.

Lifestyle and social behavior

Wild nutria is a nocturnal animal. During the day the animal hides in its home, and at night it goes out in search of food. Features of life:

• the rodent swims slowly due to the narrow front and wide rear part of the body;
• Koipu can dive to depths, spend up to ten minutes under water and swim 100 meters during this time. The amount of substances that bind oxygen increases in the animal’s blood, and a reserve is created that allows it not to breathe for a long time;
• hot afternoon is the time for nutria to rest in a shady shelter. The optimal ambient temperature for water rats is +15-20 degrees;
• If the animals do not bathe in the summer heat, their coats lose their shine. But in winter, the lack of water procedures does not affect the condition of the coat;
• nutria dig holes in high banks and make trails in tall grass. The home of a large family turns into a labyrinth of passages;
• females build nests for their young in reeds;
• nutria live in pairs or groups of up to 12 individuals. A small flock consists of one or more females, a male and cubs;
• males that have just reached maturity leave the group and settle separately.

Nutria fur is renewed throughout the year.Intensive molting begins in the spring and slows down in the summer. In winter, water rats do not shed. The koipu first renews its coat at one and a half months of age and acquires hard hair within four months.

Animals are not talkative. At night, rodents are rarely recognized by their cat-like cry. The voice of the males can be heard during their fights during the mating season. The animals also purr and growl when they share food. Water rats are clean animals. Koipu are combed with their clawed paws, preceding the procedure with a meal and finishing with bathing. Nutria also clean their coats in captivity, so their cells do not emit an unpleasant odor.

Features of nutrition in nature

Nutria is a herbivore. The animal's natural food is reed and reed stems, cattails, water chestnuts and water lily leaves. Rarely, the water rat eats mollusks and leeches. Water rats do not store supplies in case of a cold winter. When there is nothing to feed, rodents leave their homes and go to look for an area with an abundance of food. Animals can survive without water if they find a lot of succulent stems. The cleanliness of the Koipu is also evident in its food. They rinse the leaves in water and then bite them off.

In the absence of herbaceous plants, rodents switch to leaves, bark and young branches of trees and shrubs. In winter, roots are added to the woody food, which animals dig out of the ground. Water rats are considered pests, as they eat coastal vegetation and dig up the banks of water bodies. Rodents drag grass from the bottom and pile it at the water's edge. After feeding, the koipu often leaves behind a large amount of waste. Sometimes the volume of uneaten grass reaches a hundredweight.

The stomach capacity of a young animal is half a kilogram, and that of an adult is a kilogram. The intestines of the coipu are not suitable for rapid digestion due to poor microflora. Therefore, digestion takes from one to three days.

Reproduction and offspring

In captivity, female nutrias bear offspring all year round. The duration of pregnancy is short - 4.5 months. Therefore, a female can become pregnant three times in a year. Non-pregnant coipus are ready to mate once every 25-30 days. The hunting period lasts four days. The most favorable seasons for breeding are spring and summer.

Baby nutria are called puppies. The litter consists of 4-5 individuals. Koipu are born sighted, with fur and teeth. Features of the development of small nutria:

• 2-3 days after birth they leave the nest after the female, learn to swim and gnaw plant stems;
• after 2 weeks, the animals independently obtain plant food;
• up to two months they feed on mother’s milk, combining it with adult food;
• rodents grow slowly, continuing to gain height even after puberty at 5 months;
• Growth finally stops, on average, at 15 months.

Female coipu care for their offspring independently. Maternal instinct rarely fails in domestic animals. To restore the young mother's interest in the cubs, she is briefly placed with the male. Nutria live 6-8 years in the wild. Rodents are not kept on farms longer than three years of age due to loss of reproductive ability.

Population and species status

The number of wild nutria varied depending on weather conditions. During cold winters, animals died out in Scandinavia and the northern United States. Currently, water rats are not considered an endangered species.But in the process of life, the koipu is damaged by hydraulic structures. The problem is faced by countries with high numbers of wild animals - Great Britain and the USA.

In America, natural disasters contributed to the growth of the animal population. Farms were destroyed by hurricanes, and the rodents took root in the wild. In Louisiana, two million coipu were a disaster. Taking into account the experience of Western colleagues, New Zealand has banned the import of water rats. The destructive influence of rodents outside their natural range is explained by the fact that they are foreign objects in ecosystems.

Nutria hunting

Illegal hunting significantly reduced the natural population of water rats in the 19th century. Koipu survived through translocation and artificial breeding. After taming the nutria, they stopped shooting. Hunting fur-bearing animals is permitted in Europe and America.

Coipu is hunted in two ways:

• with a gun;
• set traps.

The water rat is not found in Russia. The exception is the regions of Transcaucasia, to which the animals were brought at the beginning of the last century.

Coipus are hunted in the same way as beavers and muskrats. First, they look for traces and characteristic paths of animals near water bodies.

How to distinguish a nutria track from a beaver track:

• four fingers leave a thinner imprint;
• the height of the forefoot print of a water rat is 6 centimeters, width is 5.5 centimeters;
• the prints of the hind paws are larger - 11 centimeters in height and 8 centimeters in width;
• on the tracks of the hind paws of the nutria, webbing between the toes is visible;
• track width - 25 centimeters;
• step length is 18-28 centimeters.

When walking, the hind legs of the Koipu are located further from the body than the front legs. Therefore, their tracks seem to run ahead. More often, water rats are caught with self-catching traps.In some areas, animals are bred for sport hunting. In Germany and Transcaucasia, you must first clarify whether nutria is included in the list of animals allowed for hunting.

The value of meat and fur, the healing properties of fat

Nutria skins are practical to use in sewing fur products due to the following qualities:

• waterproof;
• shine;
• ease;
• ability to retain heat;
• density.

Koipu fur coats retain their beautiful appearance for a long time. Fur of colored breeds is more expensive than standard ones. Nutria skin is dense and does not allow moisture to pass through. The skins of water rats that have undergone special processing to remove hard spines are especially valued. In quality and beauty they are comparable to beaver or mink coats. Sometimes sheared Koipu fur is passed off as more expensive fur. In Asian countries, water rat meat is classified as a product for the poor. But in Europe and America it is considered a delicacy. Nutria dishes are tastier than beef dishes.

Rodent meat is dark red, like beef, and marbled, with frequent and thin veins. It is also rich in protein and amino acids. During cooking, the juice does not evaporate, so the dish turns out juicy and tender, with a specific aroma. Koipu meat is boiled and fried, marinated for barbecue, and added to appetizers and soups. The water rat tastes like pork.

One hundred grams of product contains 149 kilocalories. Nutrient content in grams:

• proteins - 23.9;
• fat - 4.7;
• carbohydrates - 1;
• water - 70.8;
• ash - 0.98.

Water rat meat also contains vitamins and microelements: iron, potassium, magnesium, B vitamins, ascorbic acid, phosphorus. The presence of an exotic product in the diet strengthens the immune system, nails, hair and skin.Nutria meat improves the synthesis of thyroid hormones, regulates metabolism and improves blood composition. But individual intolerance is not excluded.

A useful and valuable product is nutria fat. It melts and digests easily and consists of 11 percent polyunsaturated fatty acids. Koipu fat is used in the folk treatment of colds and is added to rubs. It is also used in cosmetology as a moisturizing and healing component. Regular consumption of water rat fat helps strengthen the heart and blood vessels, alleviate diabetes and prevent atherosclerosis.