Nutria Gallery

Nutria are not native to the United States, they were introduced by people hoping to make a living by selling their pelts. The nutria fur market never materialized, so some owners ‘humanely’ released theirs into the wild — where they have thrived. I don’t know which parts of South America they come from, but in the US they are thriving in the milder climates like in Louisiana and the Pacific Northwest.

Two baby nutria eating plants at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Two Halves

There’s a lot I like about this picture. The warm colors come from the last rays of light at day’s end, contrasting the cold imparted by the frost during a cold snap.

There’s the cuteness factor, both from the inherent cuteness of the baby nutria, plus the comedic positioning where the side-by-side youngsters show the front of one and the rear of the other, looking almost like a single elongated nutria.

There’s also natural history on display. First, nutria are herbivores and eat plants like the little one on the left, his two front paws feeding the stalk into his mouth. Second, you can see why nutria have become so dominant in the milder climates. An adult pair has given birth recently in the middle of winter here in the Northwest, and the little ones are surviving quite well even during the coldest weather we see here in the valley.

Cold Baby

A baby nutria walks across ice and frost on a cold winter day at Ridgefield.

Baby nutria walking over ice at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Baby nutria walking over frost at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Adult nutria grooms itself at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Soliloquy

Many in the Northwest disklike the introduced nutria, but there’s no denying their entertainment value — Ridgefield’s nutria have a preference for Shakespeare. This one was in rare form, caught in the middle of the famous soliloquy from Hamlet:

To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?

I also highly recommend their MacBeth — particularly moving is that, during Lady MacBeth’s famous “Out, damned spot! out, I say!” speech, the nutria grabs and pulls at the light brown spot behind its ears.

I’ve heard rumors that the nutria around the Northwest have started to diversify, including an eclectic group in Oregon that has specialized in avant-garde dance theatre, but I haven’t been able to verify this yet.

Adult nutria in duckweed at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other

A group of duckweed-covered logs, but only one of them is still alive.

Adrift In a Sea of Green

An animal that swims through duckweed usually leaves behind a tell-tale narrow trail, but the trail quickly closed behind this slowly swimming nutria, leaving it surrounded in a sea of green.

Juvenile nutria in duckweed at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

After the typically dry Northwestern summer, the backchannels at Ridgefield turn green with algae and duckweed. This was one of two young nutria looking after another even younger nutria at the end of a warm September day.

Nutria on ice at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

The nutria population here in the Northwest has exploded since they were introduced in the middle of the 20th century. A freak snow and ice storm on this day made things a little colder than most of the nutria are probably used to, but they handled it just as well as our native muskrats and beavers. This nutria was hanging out near an open channel in a slough at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington.

While it might look like this nutria has a mouthful of carrots, it's actually showing off its bright orange teeth.

After mucking around in the mud for food, it was bath time: the nutria started running running its wet hands down its head and snout. It reminded me of my cats, only without all the tongue action, using the surrounding water to wet its hands instead.

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