Nutria Gallery

Nutria are not native to the United States, they were introduced here in the Pacific Northwest by people hoping to sell their pelts into the fur trade. When the nutria market didn't materialize, some owners released theirs into the wild — where they have thrived in the area's mild climate.

Nutria in the Winter

An adult nutria uses its weight to break the ice in a frozen channel at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Icebreaker

The winters here west of the Cascades are generally pretty mild, but we do get the occasional cold snap that freezes the shallow ponds at Ridgefield, blocking many animals that normally swim to get around. This nutria was undaunted and used its weight to break a path through the ice, lifting itself up onto the ice and then pushing down to break through it. It would pause every so often, perhaps to regain its strength, but did eventually manage to clear a channel from one shore to the other.

Baby Nutria

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

	The Untouchables I don't normally come to the defense of invasive species, but nutria have, in my opinion, gotten a bad rap from the popular press and public. I don't have a problem with them being treated like the invasives they are, including trapping and killing them, but I don't understand the need to demonize them as giant rats. They are large rodents, but if we teach people to hate them because of that, how will they feel about similar native species, like our state mammal, the beaver, or the muskrat, whose very name conjures up foul-smelling rats? They may not belong here, but as long as they are, I'll enjoy photographing them. This little baby looks much larger than it is, the hungry little furball has its fur puffed out to protect against the cold and snow.
	Front & Back There were a handful of nutria babies hanging out together near the auto tour at Ridgefield during this Christmas break. Sometimes you'd see all five together, sometimes just four, or three, or two, or even one. This little one wandered off on its own to feed for a while, the others were just a few feet away. A nutria's rear feet are much larger than the front, the front are adept at grasping plants and steering them into the mouth, while most of the toes of the rear feet are webbed and well-suited for swimming, a useful trait for an aquatic rodent. One of the group had a lame rear foot and had to drag it around as it walked, it was able to keep up with the others but I didn't see it the last few days, not sure if it was off on its own or if one of the many predators at the refuge caught up to it.
	I'll Have What He's Having If one of the baby nutria found a good eating spot, the others often ran over to join it, here four of the five are huddled up together. The baby up top stopped to preen itself, showing off its little front paws and orange front teeth. I love the light in this picture, the early morning sun was just starting to break through the fog and melt the frost that formed during the night.

Adult Nutria

	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.
	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.
	One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other A group of tree branches covered in duckweed and algae, only one of them is not a branch.
	Adrift in a Sea of Green Anything swimming through duckweed or algae usually leaves behind a tell-tale trail, but the trail quickly closed behind this slowly swimming nutria, leaving it surrounded in a sea of green.

A nutria on ice on a cold winter's day at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Unusually Cold

A freak snow and ice storm in early 2004 made things a little colder than normal for our nutria but they handled it just as well as our native muskrats and beavers. This nutria was hanging out near an open channel in the ice in a slough at Ridgefield.

After dining on the plants near the opening of the ice, it showed me its lovely orange teeth and proceeded to clean itself, 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.

A nutria shows its large orange teeth on a cold winter's day at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

A nutria preens on the ice on a cold winter's day at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

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