Coypu

• It can eat up to 25% of its body weight in vegetation a day and do serious damage to dykes and crops.
• It eats aquatic and emergent plants, roots and stems.
• It lives in marshes and along the banks of lakes and slow-moving streams across much of South America.
• ecologíaIt has been introduced to many countries outside its natural range for the fur trade, and in a good number of them has become an invasive species that damages dykes and canals.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)

Habitat and environment

Marshes and the banks of lakes and slow-moving streams across much of South America, including brackish water

Birth weight

Born fully developed, eyes open and already furred

Size at birth

Born fully developed

Sexual maturity

6 months

Gestation / incubation

127-139 days (~4-4.5 months)

Litter / clutch size

1 to 13 young per litter (average 3-6), with up to 3 litters per year

Life expectancy in captivity

Documented record of up to 19 years

Sources consulted: AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); Animal Diversity Web; Britannica; USGS Species Profile; Texas Invasive Species Institute; Herrera Environmental (invasive species profile); California Species Project