It appears that efforts to remove nutria from the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem have been largely successful, but are not yet complete. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/u...lmarva-marshlands.html?_r=1&hp&pagewanted=all Has anybody here seen a nutria? Are they on the loose in Europe, Asia, Australia, or other non-native range areas also?
I see nutria all the time. There are loads of them around here. Most common large mammal to see in this area (followed by feral hogs).
have a look at this page (which has a map of the worldwide range) and the links down the bottom for individual continent/country data. Note that the distribution map also includes countries where coypu are farmed but not established as wild populations. USGS National Wetlands Research Center: Worldwide Distribution, Spread of, and Efforts toDistribution, Spread of, and Efforts toDistribution, Spread of, and Efforts to Distribution, Spread of, and Efforts to Eradicate the Nutria
Thanks much Chlidonias. Given Australia's invasibility I'm surprised that they are not established there, but maybe the Aussies were smart enough not to let them in in the first place?
yes I don't think they have ever been brought into Australia. Most likely by the time nutria farming took hold Australia had learned its lessons from the rabbit and cane toad plagues.
Nutria We had them in the UK for several decades, and they became very much a part of [particularly] the East Anglian scene. I understand they did a lot of damage to waterways from burrowing, and were at best an irritation to sugar beet farmers. Better known in the UK as Coypu, they were eradicated in the 1980s. They do not appear to have any serious predators [Sea Eagles would have been useful here], at least on the adults, although there were losses from frost-bite in severe winters. I believe there are still substantial feral populations in Europe.
I remember seeing coypu easily at Minsmere (RSPB reserve in Suffolk) in the 1970s. They were established in the Norfolk Broads and other parts of East Anglia, but I don't think they reached the Fens. They were also quite common in zoos at the time, I remember them at Chester and Regents Park but I expect other collections had them too. As FBBird says they were eradicated by a succession of severe winters plus an increase in trapping. I believe there were also legal changes to ban their keeping in captivity in the UK. Alan Note added: for further information see https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/factsheet/factsheet.cfm?speciesId=2282
Can also remember a small white-painted concrete enclosure at a UK Zoo somewhere and watching Coypus 'dapping' in shallow water- it wasn't Chester as I didn't go there till later. Could have been Bristol or Paignton? Maybe it was at more than one zoo. Always remember their orange teeth!
Interesting that they are known mostly as coypu in Europe. That name is almost completely unknown here. Guess it is another one of those Elk/Wapiti things.
In fur farming, afaik the fur is always called 'Nutria' even in Europe. 'Coypu' doesn't sound so attractive maybe for a furcoat.
I'm sure most of you know this already, but the "real" name is coypu. Nutria is Spanish for "otter" and was given to the coypu for the sole reason to make the fur more attractive and marketable in the fur trade.
Curiosity killed the cat here! Coypu are a pest anywhere else, lest in their native habitat quite a rarity.
Having said that, there are still occasional reports of possible Coypu in Northumberland and County Durham.
