Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Nutria Another Interesting Subject



















http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=nutria&FORM=BIFD#focal=a5efc238c03de34e352201df1ba34828&furl
=http%%2F%2Fwww.cvm.missouri.edu%2Fvrs%2Fimages%2
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http://archive.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/Nutria112707a.jpg


A huge yellow toothed rodent from South America.

Introduced to Louisiana in 1930's for the fur which resembles mink but they escaped from the farms and have become very destructive to Louisiana marshland and ecosystem

It’s a herbivore and resembles a beaver or otter.

It burrows and chews the stems of plants leaving the rest to die.

It's meat is lean and low in cholesterol but it doesn’t taste good.

Although many promoters tried to introduce it as food, not many people buy it to eat.

It's known as the poor man's food.

It can chew through tires and house wood panels.

The huge size of this guy makes our rats look pitiful by comparison.

But it seems friendly enough and has a sweet tooth for lollipops.:)



5 comments:

Maude Lynn said...

That thing is creepy!

Jeannette StG said...

Interesting! never seen this rodent/beaver/otter, but I can see the likeness in the fur with mink.

George said...

I've never even heard of this creature! Thanks for a very interesting post.

Jientje said...

It looks half beaver half monkey!

HoneyBUZZin said...

What on earth is that? Never heard it here in this part of the world.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.