Myocastor coypus
Myocastor coypus, commonly called coypu, coipu, nutria or < b>quiyá is a species of hystricomorphic rodent native to southern South America, similar to the beaver. It lives in various types of wetlands. The coypu is also called nutria, a word that also designates another carnivorous animal.
Common name
Myocastor coypus receives different common names depending on its location. The name in Chile is coipo or coipu (a term from the Mapudungun language koypu). Less common is the name quiyá , a term of Tupi-Guarani origin in Paraguay and certain areas of Northeast Argentina. The Spanish called it, despite not having any taxonomic relationship, "nutria", due to a slight similarity in its habits with the European carnivore; This term is the most popular east of the Andes mountain range, both among rural men and their specific hunter: the "nutriero", and even among the urban population, as the "tapado de nutria" is one of the most popular women's coats. In the United States, as the first imported specimens of the species were of Argentine origin, the local name also traveled with them, which is why in English-speaking countries it is also called by the name "otter." Its long, scaly tail, similar to that of rats, has earned it another of its common names: rat-otter.
General aspects
It is captured to use its meat as human food, but especially its skin, used in fur processing. For this reason, it has also become a domestic species, having been multiplied in hatcheries around the world, already having multiple commercial varieties originating from mutations. Some specimens from the farms have managed to escape and colonize nearby wetlands with singular success, expanding their population and affecting new ecosystems that, unlike those in South America, did not evolve with the species. For this reason, it is included in the list of the 100 of the most harmful invasive alien species in the world by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Features
It is a large rodent, weighing between 4 and 10 kg. It reaches 40 to 60 cm in body length, with a 30 to 45 cm tail. Its outer coat is in dark, shiny brown tones, with a layer of gray hair underneath. It has a patch of white fur on its snout and bright orange incisors. Its eyes and ears are small. The coarse upper hair covers lower hair of considerable commercial value. It has its legs with interdigital membranes; Its tail is long and scaly. It is the largest rodent in Chile.
It has an interesting adaptation to aquatic life that consists of the position of its breasts, placed along both sides, on the back, so that the female swims while nursing her young.
Playback
It can be reproduced throughout the year. Females reach sexual maturity in the first year of life. After 19 weeks of gestation, between five and six babies covered in hair are born. Breastfeeding lasts eight weeks, although at birth they have well-developed incisors and on the second day they are able to swim.
Their predators are the main cause of death, along with hunting and road kill. In freedom they reach four years of age.
Habitat
It is an inhabitant of lagoons and estuaries with abundant aquatic vegetation. It occupies rivers, lagoons, estuaries and swamps, where it feeds on vegetables, fruits and meat.
Distribution
It has native wild populations in aquatic environments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Its conservation is not threatened although its artificial expansion to other areas of the world may pose a threat to the ecosystems it occupies. Coypu escaped from fur farms have established themselves in various locations in North America, the British Isles and much of Western Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, its introduction comes from escapes and releases from fur farms in France and Catalonia since the early 1970s. Currently there are populations located on the Atlantic slope (Aran Valley in Catalonia; Soba in Cantabria; Ribera del Bidasoa in Guipúzcoa; Baztán, Valcarlos and scattered specimens in the Ebro Basin, in Navarra). There are also some very low density nuclei on the Catalan Mediterranean slope (Sant Feliu de Buixalleu and Arbúcies, in Montseny, in Gerona).
The expansion of this invasive species is limited to areas where the temperature does not drop much in winter.
Due to its colonizing potential and constituting a serious threat to native species, habitats or ecosystems, this species has been included in the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species, regulated by Royal Decree 630/2013, of 2 August, its introduction into the natural environment, possession, transportation, trafficking and trade being prohibited in Spain.