

LIBRARY 



CURRENT SERJAL RECORD 

 United States Department of the Interior MAY 1 2 19^9 ^. 



Fish and Wildlife Service 

 Washington 25, D. C. 



Wildlife Leaflet 389 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



" — "3uhe~T95Y " 



NUTRIAS IN THE UNITED STATES 



Prepared in Section of Wild Fur Animal Investigations 



Branch of Wildlife Research 



Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 



Contents 



Page 



Introduction 1 



Nutrias in captivity 2 



Imports, releases, and escapes 



in United States 3 



Description, characteristics. 5 



Feeding habits 6 



Page 



Breeding and reproduction. ... 7 

 Trapping, preparing pelts. ... 8 



Nutria fur market 9 



Acknowledgment . 9 



Literature cited 10 



Additional references 10 



INTRODUCTION 



The occurrence of nutria ( Myocastor coypus , sometimes known as swamp 

 beaver, South American beaver, and coypu) in the catches of Louisiana 

 trappers in recent years has been a source of great interest to managers of 

 fur and game animals, fur tradesmen, and conservationists generally. 



It is paradoxical that this fur-animal development was brought about by 

 defeated and discouraged nutria breeders who released or permitted escape of 

 the animals from captivity into the wild. 



In I8U9, nutrias were so abundant in all the rivers, estuaries, lagoons, 

 and marshlands of Argentina that Governor Rosas, in his address before the 

 Twenty- seventh Legislature of the Province of Buenos Aires, referred to them 

 as "constituting great wealth destined to reward the troops after the war." 



The nutria did reward the troops and many others so well for the 

 following 60 years that those who lived by hunting and trapping this fur 

 animal had virtually exterminated it and were forced into other pursuits 

 for a livelihood. 



This leaflet is a revision of Wildlife Leaflet 319 (May I9I+9), Nutrias Grow 

 in the United States, by Frank G. Ashbrook, who retired from Government service 



in February 1957 • 



