hops. The tail is black, long, perfectly round, and thinly covered 

 with flat-lying bristles. The tail serves as a rudder when the nutria 

 is swimming. 



A full-grown ranch-raised male weighs from 20 to 25 pounds and a 

 female from 1$ to 20 pounds. The body is about 2h inches long and the 

 tail 12 to 16 inches. The male can generally be distinguished from the 

 female because he is larger and stronger in body, and the head and neck 

 are coarser than those of the female. In the female the mammary glands 

 are well developed but they are located along the side of the back. 

 The first of these is located at the height of the elbow of the foreleg 

 where the back begins to flatten down to the sides. The last mammary 

 gland is located on the height of the hip bone. It seems to be gener- 

 ally accepted that this arrangement gives the young an opportunity to 

 suckle while the mother is in the water. The irregular position of 

 the mammary glands in the Rodentia is, however, not unusual. The 

 guinea pig and some species of Capromys have mammary glands on the 

 inside of the hind legs. The porcupine has thera above the arm pits, 

 and other rodents have them located similarly to the nutria. 



The common color of the nutria is dark amber in appearance, but 

 this varies with the type, season, and locality. The guard hairs are 

 finer and not so long on the belly and sides as on the back, and the 

 underfur is also finer and denser. 



The areas in South America inhabited by nutrias lie within a mild 

 temperate zone where the winters last only 3 to k months, although hard 

 freezes are not uncommon. The climate in these areas is similar to 

 that in the United States but it is a marine climate and less fluctuating. 

 The nutria takes readily to icy water and apparently experiences no ill 

 effect other than losing part of its tail* This is not common in all 

 parts of South America, and since the animals so affected recover 

 rapidly, the loss is considered inconsequential. Nutrias in South Amer- 

 ica have been observed running over the ice of frozen rivers and lakes 

 in search of a water opening into which to plunge and swim about* The 

 young nutria a few days old is said to follow the mother into the same 

 icy waters* 



"When nutrias were kept in captivity out of doors in Canada and in 

 the northern United States, the tails and feet froze; the condition was 

 serious and a handicap to production. 



FEEDING HABITS 



The nutria is strictly herbivorous and feeds on a wide variety of 

 succulent green plants, rushes, seeds, sour grasses, and aquatic plant 

 roots. It is not too particular in selecting a menu. In the marsh areas 

 of Louisiana it feeds extensively on the coarser vegetation — cattails, 

 reeds, delta duck potato, chufa roots, and other sedges. Wherever rice, 

 corn, sweet potatoes, and other agricultural crops are grown close to 

 waterways, the nutria causes severe damage. In captivity, it shows a 



