Releases and escapes of nutrias were undoubtedly made in other 

 states and in western Canada, for there are unconfirmed reports which 

 so indicate. At first, trappers did not know what they were. They 

 said the animal looked like a cross between a muskrat and a beaver but 

 grunted like a hog. After much speculation and investigation, all 

 these appeared to be nutrias. How many were released and later trapped, 

 is not known. Nor are there data available on the number now at large. 

 Nutrias are established in the Pacific Northwest, and they range along 

 the Gulf Coast from Galveston Bay, Texas, into Florida, and northward 

 into eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, and southwestern Arkansas. 

 In Louisiana, nutrias are most abundant in St. Mary, Iberia, Vermilion, 

 and eastern Cameron Parishes. 



During the 1955-56 season, trappers took Ul8,772 nutrias in Louisi- 

 ana for the value of the pelts. However, the actual catch was much 

 higher, for many nutrias are discarded in the marsh and many are killed 

 to protect rice fields. 



DESCRIPTION AND CHARACTERISTICS 



Because the early Spaniards believed this fur animal to be a form 

 of European otter, they gave it the name "nutria." The word nutria is 

 Spanish for otter. In more recent years the animal has come to be known 

 as the South American beaver. Both terms, however, are misnomers. 



According to Osgood (19U3) the coypu has five recognized geographi- 

 cal races which together have an extensive natural range in southern 

 South America. The species occurs in coastal areas and in larger rivers 

 from approximately 15° South latitude in southern Brazil, Paraguay, and 

 Bolivia to the Pacific coast of Tierra del Fuego. The coypu subspecies 

 in Louisiana and Texas is probably M. c« bonariensis , the form from 

 north Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and south Brazil (Lowery, op_. cit. ). 



On first sight a nutria on land looks like a stunted beaver, with 

 a long, round tail, clumsy, and possessing an unsightly fur covering. 

 The head is typical of a rodent and resembles a guinea pig or an agouti. 



It possesses four powerful incisors, orange in color and deeply set. 

 The color of the incisors become deeper red-orange with age, giving the 

 animal an odd characteristic appearance. It has powerful cheek muscles 

 like the beaver. The nutria can inflict serious wounds with these teeth 

 and can cut off a handler's thumb or finger in one snap of the powerful 

 jaws. The only safe way to lift a specimen is by the tail, holding it a 

 safe distance from the body. 



The short, round ears and the long whiskers around the mouth make the 

 head look broad, heavy, and coarse. The neck is short and the body broad 

 with heavy covering of fur. The front legs are small and short, and have 

 strong claws. The hind legs are longer and well muscled, and the feet are 

 webbed for swimming. The nutria's legs are scarcely long enough to keep 

 the proportionately large body off the ground, giving it a clumsy appear- 

 ance when in motion. When disturbed or excited it moves rapidly in short 



