For a lot of folks out there, that is the question. Nutria are a large aquatic rodent, native to South America. There is some question as to exactly when they were introduced to these shores, so I’m not going to try and decipher contradicting data.

Nutria eat aquatic vegetation, all forms. Initially after their introduction they performed a somewhat valuable service, their dining habits reducing the vegetation found in marsh and marshy areas along the Gulf coast. It is estimated that the range of the nutria in Louisiana encompasses approximately 48,000 acres, with the bulk of that land mass in south Louisiana ranging from Terrebonne Parish just south and west of New Orleans over to Lake Charles in the southwest corner of the state.

Over time, the range of the nutria has expanded greatly, now covering from Maryland to New Mexico. Maryland has been exceptionally hard by their feeding habits, damaging the shallow bays and inlets and disrupting fertile feeding and breeding grounds of wading birds and other species.

They are also prolific breeders, but their gestation period is between 127 days to 139 days in length. Litters can range from 1 to 13 offspring per breeding cycle, though the average is from 6-8. Mortality rate is not actually known in the wild, however. They range in color from a dark brown to a light yellow brown. In size, they range from 12″-18″ in length, average, with a weight of approximately 12-15 lbs. They become sexually mature at six months.

Also known as coypu, the original name given them in South America, they were prized for their fur, and some people harvest them as a food source. The fur trade liked the nutria, because it has two distinct coats…the top coat is very coarse, and is known as ‘guard hair’ while the under coat is very fine. Pelts from nutria were a very important part of the designers of coats and other garments due to the fact that they could be easily dyed and worked as trim into other garments, jackets, and coats.
At the peak of this trade, good nutria pelts could fetch as much as $14.00- $15.00 each. This ended in the middle 1980’s when the price of pelts dropped to $7.00 – $8.00 each, resulting in a major decrease in the trapping of nutria which as led to a massive loss of aquatic vegetation in the areas that they occupy.

Considering the damage that they are doing to aquatic vegetation, I find it somewhat ironic that environmental groups are now at odds concerning the fate of the nutria. Some of these groups favor decreasing the population, even if it means killing them, while others are dead set against that.

My first introduction to nutria was back in the late 1960’s while duck hunting in the marsh south of Lake Charles. I was a member of a duck lease there, and one morning we were easing through a trapper’s ditch, small canals dug in the marsh, much like section line roads. We were heading out to our blinds, four pirogues, three men, guns, dogs, decoys and other gear in each pirogue. Oh..phonetically, pirogue is pronounced PEE-row.

Nutria were resting on the small levees on each side of the ditch, and one of the guys in the front pirogue thought it would be funny to snatch one off the levee and toss it backwards in the pirogue. He did it, and the end result was one very angry nutria thrashing around in the small boat which was inadvertantly tipped over, depositing three men and all their gear in the bottom of the ditch. It really wasn’t funny, but those of us not involved in this fiasco were laughing so hard that we almost tipped over our pirogues. Gear was eventually recovered, but hunting for those three was over that morning before they even started. Needless to say, the guy who did it was considered persona no grata for a few days. On a happy note, the day was a success for the rest of us, with each of us limiting out on ducks in less than an hour. That was back in the good old days when we had a six duck limit, of which only four could be mallards, drakes or hens.

I hope this has cleared up some confusion as to what a nutria is, where it lives, and what it does.

I need to give credit to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Maryland Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, Florida State University, and the University of Maryland for posting this information on the internet.