Nutria Essay

An invasive species is a species that goes into an unnatural habitat for the species and starts to produce into bigger numbers. Should the animal began to start producing into an area that does not have the species it will ruin the environment. The Nutria has invaded places like Michigan, and Washington. Fur farms failed in the 1940s because of the prices, and the Nutria could not produce well so they were released into the wild. This caused a huge impact in the Nutria invading many of the countries in the U.S.

Literature Review

The Nutria are is known as an Herbivore. An herbivore only eats plants, the nutria usually only eats roots, and stems of a water plant. Nutria will consume about 25% of its own body weight. Nutria have been known to turn destroy different areas into muddy areas and ruin flood

The Nutria can grow as long as 40 inches (2 feet) from its nose to the tip of the tail. The Nutria can weigh up to 12 pounds and in rare cases can reach 40 pounds. The male and female Nutria have very similar appearances. The Nutria has reddish brown fur, with giant two front teeth that have a yellowish color to them. The fur the Nutria has three layers of fur, the short underfur is less dense than that of either a muskrat or beaver. The second layer of fur is a lot longer to give it some protection, with more a bit more density to the fur of the Nutria. The outer layer of hair is only about 3 inches longer, covering up the nutria completely. The Nutria also have whiskers that can reach up to 4 inches long. The feet of the Nutria are webbed making them excellent swimmers, they also have a hind “thumb” that is not connected to the webbing. The Nutria has an oil gland that is used to wipe on the fur that makes the fur waterproof since the Nutria spends all of its time in the water. The Nutria has its mammary glands high on its side, this allows it’s young to feed even while swimming. (Nutria,