Nutria domestic: what does the animal look like and where does it live, breeds and species status

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

What nutria looks like: description

The scientific name of nutria is koipu, or marsh beaver. The external characteristics of the animal:

• big head;
• small rounded ears;
• rounded muzzle;
• long whiskers;
• webs between the toes of the hind paws;
• hard long fur;
• flexible scaly tail 45 centimeters long.

The body length of the 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 mouth and nose of the animal are adapted for foraging in the reservoir. The incisors protrude in front of the upper divided lip, so water does not enter the mouth when biting off underwater plants.

The nostrils of the koipu are tightly closed by the obturator muscles. To prevent water from entering the auditory canal, the auricles of the animal are covered from the inside with thin fluff. Swimming under water, the rodent directs the movement with the help of the tail.

Fur is water repellent and thicker on the belly to help keep you warm.The coat consists of stiff long awns and a soft undercoat. The nutria looks like a cross between a beaver and a rat. Translated from Spanish, the name of the animal means "otter". The hutia, an arboreal rodent from Jamaica, also belongs to the same family, as well as zagouti, an animal from the forests of Haiti, similar to a guinea pig.

Why nutria have orange teeth

The color of a nutria's teeth changes as it matures. In newborn cubs, they are white. From the second month of life, the incisors turn yellow. By the sixth month, the teeth of water rats become intensely orange. The bright color of the teeth appears in koipu due to the high content of iron. The nutria incisors are speckled with thin iron fibers. Orange teeth mean that the animal is young and he althy. Sick and old animals have spots on the enamel.

How much does the animal weigh

The weight of wild nutria is 5-12 kilograms. Females are lighter than males. Farm pets weigh up to 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, koipu 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. Babies gain little weight in early childhood.

100.30.420 0.50.630 50 60 90 120 150 4180 44,7 210 4.55.5

Age in days	Weight in kilograms
	Females	Males
0.7	0.8
1,1	1,2
1,4	1,7
2	2.3
2.5	3,1
3,3

Rapid weight gain contributes to the mobility of animals. Water rats that exercise regularly in swimming weigh more than sedentary relatives. The weight of meat after cutting the carcass is 53 percent of the total body weight of live nutria.

Where does it live?

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

Nutria originate from South America. Habitat - Bolivia, southern Brazil, Chile. Animals tried to acclimatize in Africa. But water rats lacked moisture on an arid continent.The climate of North America and Europe suited the koip best of all. Also, the animals took root in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan. Hunters have discovered that water rats have tasty meat. In order not to fly to the "country of wild monkeys" for a delicacy, a great migration of koipu was organized.

Varieties of nutria

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

Domestic coypu breeds:

• beige - popular with 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 undercoat;
• white - distinguish between Azerbaijani and creamy white Italian variety. Italian nutria has an expressive look. Snow-white animals are born only to purebred parents. The coat and undercoat of the Azerbaijani water rat have the same structure, so the color is evenly white. Her meat tastes better than rabbit meat;
• golden - a bright color on the back brightens closer to the stomach, the coat is shiny. The breed is considered unique due to the pinkish undercoat. To ensure that most of the cubs are born golden, purebred females or males are crossed with a representative 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 an orange. The golden, Italian and beige breed participated in the breeding. With purebred and heterogeneous crossing, golden, white and lemon cubs are born;
• mother-of-pearl - the fur of the animals is colored unevenly, gray with a light sheen, with zones highlighted. Mother-of-pearl parents give birth to cubs of the same color, as well as white and beige. A dirty shade is a sign of marriage;
• snowy - gray-blue coypu can be bred by crossing a mother-of-pearl light female and a male of golden color. In order for more cubs to be born in the offspring, snow water rats are crossed with white breeds;
• black - in young nutria there is a zonal difference in color. When crossing black water rats with representatives of their own or another breed, most of the cubs will be black. For the first time, a breeding experiment was a success with Argentine breeders;
• pastel - pastel water rats are colored in various shades of brown, are born dark and brighten as adults. The breed was obtained after crossing the mother-of-pearl and black varieties;
• cream - the color combines brown and beige color, blue-gray paws are distinguished by a pink tint. Cream nutria fur becomes valuable when the animals reach one and a half years. 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 a common river nutria, so the main color is brown.

Species diversity of Koipu includes combined and mutational breeds. They also distinguish a dominant group of animals whose genes are passed on to offspring. It includes Azerbaijani, golden and black nutria. Separately, a group with recessive traits is distinguished - mother-of-pearl, beige, smoky breeds.

Dangers and Enemies

Nutria hunted:

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

A harrier bird attacks a koipu from the air. Water rats have well-developed hearing. They hear the steps of a hunter or a crouching predator long before they appear in their field of vision. With 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 reservoir will also be a salvation for a rodent - under water it leaves its pursuers. But far from home, predators easily catch up with the water rat, despite its zigzag dashes.

When one on one with the enemy, the koipu enters the fray. The weapon of the animal is sharp claws and teeth. With its long front incisors, the rodent digs into the throat of a predator twice its size. A frozen pond turns into a death trap for a nutria. The rodent does not know how to look for thawed patches and sinks under the ice.

Lifestyle and social behavior

Wild nutria is a nocturnal animal. During the day, the animal hides in a dwelling, and at night it goes out in search of food. Life features:

• Rodent swims slowly due to the narrow front and wide back of the torso;
• koipu can dive deep, spend up to ten minutes underwater and swim 100 meters in that time. In the blood of the animal, the amount of substances that bind oxygen increases, and a reserve is created that allows you not to breathe for a long time;
• hot afternoon - nutria rest time in a shady shelter. The optimum ambient temperature for water rats is +15-20 degrees;
• if the animals do not bathe in the summer heat, their fur coat loses its luster. But in winter, the lack of water procedures does not affect the condition of the coat;
• nutrias dig holes in high banks and make trails in tall grass. The home of a large family turns into a maze of passages;
• females build nests in reeds for their young;
• nutrias live in pairs or groups of up to 12 individuals. A small flock consists of one or more females, a male and cubs;
• males who have just reached maturity leave the group and settle separately.

Nutria fur is updated throughout the year. Intense molting begins in spring and slows down in summer. In winter, water rats do not shed. For the first time, koipu change their fur coat at the age of one and a half months and acquire a hard pile within four months.

Animals are not talkative. At night, rodents are rarely recognized by their call, reminiscent of a cat. The voice of males can be heard during their fight during the mating season. Also, the animals purr and growl when they share food. Water rats are clean animals. Koipu are combed with clawed paws, anticipating the meal and completing the bath. Nutria also clean their coats in captivity, so the cells do not emit an unpleasant odor.

Features of nutrition in nature

The nutria is a herbivore.The natural food of the animal is reed and reed stems, cattail, water chestnut and water lily leaves. Rarely, the water rat eats molluscs and leeches. Water rats don't stock up for cold winters. When there is nothing to feed on, rodents leave their homes and go looking for an area with an abundance of food. Animals can go without water if they find a lot of succulent stems. The cleanliness of the koipu is also evident in the food. They rinse the leaves in water and then take a bite.

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

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 adapted for rapid digestion due to the poor microflora. Therefore, digestion takes one to three days.

Reproduction and offspring

In captivity, female nutrias breed 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 every 25-30 days. The hunting period lasts four days. The most favorable seasons for breeding offspring are spring and summer.

Baby nutrias are called puppies. There are 4-5 individuals in the offspring. Koipu are born sighted, with hair 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 on plant stems;
• after 2 weeks the animals get their own plant food;
• for up to two months they feed on mother's milk, combining it with adult food;
• rodents grow slowly, continuing to grow even after puberty at 5 months;
• Growth finally stops, on average, at 15 months.

Female koipu take care of their offspring on their own. Maternal instinct rarely fails in pets. To return the interest of the young mother to the cubs, she is briefly placed with the male. Nutria live 6-8 years in the wild. On farms, rodents are not kept for more than three years of age due to the loss of reproductive ability.

Population and species status

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

In America, natural disasters contributed to the growth of the animal population. Farms were destroyed by hurricanes, and rodents took root in the wild. In Louisiana, two million koipus were a disaster. Taking into account the experience of Western colleagues, New Zealand 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.

Hunting for nutria

Illegal hunting greatly reduced the natural population of water rats in the 19th century. The Koipu survived through relocation and artificial breeding. After taming the nutria, they stopped shooting. Hunting for fur animals is allowed in Europe and America.

Coipu is hunted in two ways:

• with a gun;
• setting 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.

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

How to tell a coypu footprint from a beaver footprint:

• four fingers leave a thinner print;
• The height of the footprint of the front paws of the water rat is 6 centimeters, the width is 5.5 centimeters;
• hind paw prints are larger - 11 centimeters high and 8 centimeters wide;
• webbed between the toes are visible on the traces of the hind paws of the nutria;
• track track width - 25 centimeters;
• step length - 18-28 centimeters.

The hind legs of the koipu when walking are further from the body than the front. Therefore, their tracks seem to run ahead. Most often, water rats are caught with trap traps. In some lands, animals are bred for sport hunting. In Germany and the Transcaucasus, you must first clarify whether the 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 tailoring fur products due to the following qualities:

• water resistant;
• shine;
• lightness;
• ability to retain heat;
• thickness.

Coipu fur coats keep a beautiful appearance for a long time. Colored fur is more expensive than standard fur. The skin of the nutria is dense and does not allow moisture to pass through. The skins of water rats, which have undergone special treatment with the removal of hard awns, are especially valued. In terms of quality and beauty, they are comparable to a beaver or mink coat. Sometimes sheared koipu fur is passed off as more expensive furs. In Asian countries, water rat meat belongs to the category of food for the poor. But in Europe and America, it is considered a delicacy. Coypu dishes taste better than beef.

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

One hundred grams of the product contains 149 kilocalories. Nutrient Grams:

• protein - 23.9;
• fat - 4.7;
• carbs - 1;
• water - 70.8;
• ash - 0.98.

There are also vitamins and microelements in the water rat meat: 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 ruled out.

Useful and valuable product - nutria fat. It is easy to melt and digest and is 11 percent polyunsaturated fatty acids. Coipu fat is used in the folk treatment of colds, added to rubbing.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.

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