Wildlife officials are fighting a losing battle to stop a big aquatic rodent with brilliant orange fangs from spreading further across the US.
Nutria, which resembles a hybrid between a beaver and an oversized rat, can reach a maximum length of two feet, with a tail that is an additional one and a half feet long, and a maximum weight of 20 pounds.
The Most Largest Rodent in the US
They are distinguished by their distinctive white nose, white whiskers, and brown fur.
Their teeth are orange in color, a quality they share with beavers, and this iron-rich, unique enamel is what gives them their appearance.
Nutria, which is larger than beavers, and is the largest rodent in North America, have long, rounded tails that are largely hairless and resemble those of rats.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, nutria was initially brought to the US as part of the fur trade around 1890. They are native to South America.
In the 1940s, when the market for nutria fur collapsed, thousands of farmers who could no longer afford to care for them released them into the wild.
Since then, the invasive species have colonized at least 20 states, mostly those on the Gulf Coast, such as Louisiana, and Florida.
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Nutria: The Invasive Species Wreaking Havoc
They have made the most undesired list of invasive plant and animal species that are wreaking the most havoc in Texas, according to the Parks and Wildlife Department. Moreover, the Atlantic coast and the Pacific Northwest have both seen nutria-related environmental harm.
The fact that nutria is a harmful pest is due to a number of characteristics. Each day, rodents consume up to 25% of their body weight in plants.
Due to their digging feeding method, they can waste up to ten times as much plant material as they actually consume.
Nutria is capable of excavating intricate dens that extend 164 feet into a bank and are nearly 20 feet deep.
The burrowing not only destroys the soil, native plant communities, and agricultural crops, but it can also cause levees to fail and infrastructure that prevents flooding to be damaged.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries initially intended to seize the animal and transport Neuty to the Baton Rouge Zoo, but last month the DWF settled on a deal in which the Lacoste family would provide Neuty with routine veterinary examinations and keep him caged while he was at the seafood store.
Maryland spent more than two decades and $30 million to eradicate the nutria, employing the rolling thunder method to systematically traverse across 500,000 acres of marshland and kill nearly 14,000 of the creatures.
Radio-tagged nutria was occasionally used to direct game authorities to burrows.
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