coypu

(also ‘water rat’, ‘nutria’; plural: ‘coypus‘; pronunciation: the letter ‘c’ is said with a ‘k’ sound as in “king”, the letters ‘coy’ rhyme with the word “boy” and ‘pu’ rhyme “poo” — for the right pronunciation of this word, please click here)

a coypu

a kind of animal – mammal – water rodent – related to rats and looks like a large rat; grows to 15 to 25 inches body length plus about 15 inches round tail, weighs 9-10 Kg.; dark-brownish rough outer fur (hair) with soft velvety under-coat (hair); a small white patch (mark) on the square-shaped (blunt) muzzle (= mouth and nose part) long whiskers (hair around the mouth); small eyes, small and round ears placed high above the head; the hind legs are longer and webbed (with a layer of skin joining the toes – four of the five toes only in coypu); feeds on the water plants; lives for about 6 years in burrows near the water edges; originally from South America, but now found in many parts of the world

Special Features:

a coypu at its burrow in a river bank

The fur, the under-coat which is smooth and soft, called ‘nutria’, of the coypu was in great demand in the past; but now it is not used much.

Coypu’s meat is eaten, but not very popular. It is branded as ‘the poor man’s meat’.

At present the coypus are treated as pests because they damage the river banks by burrowing, and by eating away the plant life in the rivers.However, there are some experts who argue that the coypus are in fact helping people by eating away the excess plants which otherwise clog the rivers.

For an interesting article on coypu damaging the canals, please click here.