Monday afternoon I came home from work. The family was at the dinner table. It was a Leave It To Beaver kind of welcome. No pun on the Leave It To Beaver.

One of the first things out of my youngest sons mouth was, I about ran over a Nutria today. As I walked up the stairs I thought to myself, 'what the hell is a Nutria?'

Tad said he about ran over it while riding the Gator at work. He's working at the Sioux Falls Parks for his summer job. He also said it made the weirdest noise he had ever heard. Kind of a hissing, scrapping your nails on a chalkboard sound.

I didn't believe that could be the actual name, so I goggled it up. Nutria. Yep, there is such a thing. According to National Geographic.com,

Nutria are large, web-footed rodents that are more agile in the water than on land. They live in burrows, or nests, never far from the water. Nutria may inhabit a riverbank or lakeshore, or dwell in the midst of wetlands. They are strong swimmers and can remain submerged for as long as five minutes.

Nutria (also called coypu) are varied eaters, most fond of aquatic plants and roots. They also feast on small creatures such as snails or mussels

A couple of years ago, I had taken a picture of one in the tree in the backyard here at the radio station. I thought it was a beaver in a tree. No, I hadn't been drinking at work the day I saw it. The animal does indeed look like a beaver, but with a rat tail instead.

They like chewing down trees. Whatever they are, they have knocked down quite a few in our back yard slew.

Nutria. I learned something new. Not a muskrat, not a beaver, not a woodchuck but a Nutria.

Then Tad said, I've seen just about every animal imaginable at my job with the parks.

I asked if he'd seen a reindeer or a polar bear.

That didn't go over too well. So much for dinnertime conversation and learning a new name for an animal I didn't know. Nutria.

Side note. I just talked with Steve at The Outdoor Campus. I asked him if it's possible if my son had seen an Nutria while working for the Parks. Steve said, while I've learned to never say never, probably not. The Nutria is more of a warm weather animal and most likely wouldn't survive the cold winters here in Sioux Falls. He said it's more likely that he saw either a woodchuck or muskrat. This falls in line with a listener who voted woodchuck since I had seen one in the tree but?

Closing thoughts. What did he see? Could a Nutria survive here in Sioux Falls?  Did Troy Landry plant one in our backyard when they were in town a couple years ago so we would have something to talk about?

Side note Side note. I saw a doe with twin fawns in our backyard today.

It's nice to be in town and yet so close to nature.

 

 

 

 

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