For some valid reason elusive to memory I was chatting with my roommate Sarika about the giant rodents that plague Lousiana's swamps. Ah, yes, now I recall that the nutra rats (also known as nutria or coypu) were brought up in the context of being fodder for alligators. We were discussing alligators as a shift from crocodiles, which were sighted by Sarika on her visit to Australia. And we like to talk about travel in general.
So now that explanation is out of the way, I can share this fascinating fact that emerged from a quick visit to Wikipedia:
The coypu somewhat resembles a very large rat in appearance. Adults are typically 5–9 kg (10-20 lb) in weight, and 40–60 cm (15-24 inches) in body length, with a 30–45 cm (12-18 inches) tail. They can also be identified by their bright orange-yellow incisor teeth (unlike rats, which have brownish yellow incisors). The nipples of female coypu are on her back. This allows their young to feed while the female is in the water.
Who knew that rodents were so versatile? Maybe that is why there is such a profusion of them.
Also, today I received my first henna tattoo and also wore my first bindi (Indian forehead "dot" or other geometric forehead decoration). Don't worry, I haven't converted to Hinduism. It was for a charity event.
1 comment:
I had a dream about large rodents recently, though there were very unpleasant...nothing like your Coypus.
You should make some sort of post about the email traffic you've been sending around (and perhaps its eventual resolution).
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