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| The new much scarier picture |
Sometimes, you’re in the middle of a fascinating conversation and someone uses a word you’ve never heard before. Pretty often, you probably just ignore it, but if the speaker happens to be cute, the word can stick in your head. Such was the case when I heard about the Nutria. I don’t remember the context of the story about this whisker-ey rat relative (it had nothing to do with the later-spotted racoons, I’m sure of that) but my Treo web browser was unable to come up with anything good about this little rodent I had never heard of.
That was very babbly.
Now that I’m back home, I have my whole high speed internet and searching for info on the Nutria was easier. So, here’s what I’ve learned:
- Scientifically, it’s the “Myocastor Coypus” of the Rodentia family
- Native to South America
- Can only tolerate winter in temperate areas (which is why you won’t find them in Wisconsin, thank you very much)
- 14 inches long — yikes, big!
- One male usually has 2 or 3 mates sharing his burrow. Polygamists!
- Many females breed within two days after giving birth to a litter. Sluts!
- Considered old at the age of 4
Here’s a recipe for Louisiana Nutria — in case you ever catch a couple and want to cook them up for a tasty meal.
More exotic recipes can be found here (it shows 6 for Nutria). Roast beaver sounds really yummy, don’t you think?
They are freaky creatures. And way more scary than your picture makes out… check out this one… http://racphoto.com/Parks/OR/Finley/Mammals/CRW_8804-ed.jpg
Imagine you’re a college freshmen just trying to make your way back to your dorm after a good football game… all of a sudden a gang of these sharp-clawed, yellow toothed monsters emerge splashing from the water and run right at you! Blehhh.
See, I think just one isn’t that scary. But the thought of a whole gang of them is — plus, if they happened to have one of those 3 foot tall racoons with them? Well, that would be frightening.
I never suffered a rodent attack while walking back from football games in college. My worst experience danger-wise was the time all of us students almost trampled each other to death after beating Michigan during my senior year. Not fun.
I see we have some trust issues… you may have runty raccoons in Wisconsin, but in the Pacific Northwest, our animals run large!
“The northern raccoon measures from 24 to 42 inches (61 to 107 centimeters) long, including its tail. Most raccoons weigh from 8 to 20 pounds (3.6 to 9 kilograms), though some males may weigh more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms). ” http://www2.worldbook.com/wc/popup?path=features/cybercamp&page=html/walkracc.html&direct=yes
“Body weights vary by location, age, and sex from 3 to 9 kg. The largest raccoons recorded are from Idaho and nearby states, while the smallest reside in the Florida Keys.” http://greennature.com/article1727.html
Oregon is one of those nearby states. Of the 25 subspecies in North America, the Procyon Lotor Pacificus and PL Excelsus are found in Oregon and tend to be very large. (And mean!)
I may have some issues with trust…
So, yes, I guess racoons out west can get pretty big. The idea of a 3-foot racoon (a word I keep trying to spell with two c’s for some reason) is pretty wild, honestly. And, if I were to ever be confronted with one of these genetic freaks, I would probably be quite scared.
I wonder if you realize how attractive the ability to have an inteligent debate is…