Myocastor coypus

Myocastor coypus (Molina, 1782)

Common name: Coypu, Nutria, River rat

The Nutria (Myocastor coypus) is a large rodent, nearly the size of a beaver except with long, rounded, scaly, ratlike tail. Its hind feet are webbed. The upperparts are reddish brown; the underfur dark slaty (Figure 89). Total length of adults may reach 1.4 m and weigh 8–10 kg (total length, 800–900 mm; tail, 350–400 mm; hind foot, 130– 140 mm). The skull is robust with large, orange-colored incisors, relatively small tympanic bulla, and molars similar to that of a porcupine (Figure 90).

The Nutria is the only member of the family Myocastoridae. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to all continent except Australia and Antarctica primarily by fur ranchers (Carter & Leonard, 2002), it occurs in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.It is a large, omnivorous, semiaquatic rodent. It lives in burrows alongside stretches of water. Although it is still valued for its fur in some regions, its destructive feeding and burrowing behaviors make this invasive species a pest throughout most of its range and became a pest species, causing damage to water control structures, crops, and marsh systems and is considered a disease host. It is the only species of introduced mammals known to occur in the major permanent water bodies of Jordan (Amr, 2000a). The coypu was introduced into the area by Jewish fish farmers for fur production in the early 1950’s from Chile (Bodenheimer, 1958) and for economic reasons they were released in the River Jordan system. Also, it was introduced into fish ponds to control reeds, but proved to cause damage to fish pond dikes due to their burrowing behavior (Mendelssohn & Yom-Tov, 1999). Now, it is common along the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers and one specimen was found along Jarash creek in the mountains, which is a tributary of the Zarqā River and River Jordan. Atallah (1978) reported on a specimen caught in 1968 along the Jordan River, south of the Hula Lake.We located several populations along the Yarmouk River near ‘Aqrabā village, and many others along the River Jordan and at the northern mouth of the Dead Sea.