Is a squirrel a rodent?
Squirrels are so cute, though, right?
But they are. Rodents.
Do you know about nutria?
They look like this:
Here’s an AP update about them from yesterday morning. The stuff of breaking news.
Large rat-like nutria spreading in Seattle
Posted by The Associated Press June 25, 2008 08:39AM
Categories: Breaking NewsSEATTLE — Milder weather may be one reason that a rat-like aquatic rodent called nutria is spreading in the Seattle area.
Residents near the University of Washington would like to get rid of nutria because they are chewing and burrowing through shorelines.
Nutria can weigh up to 20 pounds and be aggressive toward people and spread disease.
Nutria are an invasive species. They were introduced in Washington in the 1930s as a fur animal. They’ve been spotted in wetlands as far north as the Canadian border and east to the Tri-Cities. — The Associated Press
This whole image of nutria floating about Lake Washington started swimming in my head.
So I couldn’t help but be intrigued when minutes later I saw this:
A whole circle of squirrels.
Not real ones.
Artistic ones.
Holding things.
In the window of a new gallery in Columbia City called Gather.
Gather just opened two weeks ago, I inquired and found out.
Kind of a neat space, and worth checking out if you’re in the ‘hood.
:: Gather
:: Erich Woll’s “It Takes Ten Squirrels To Make A Squirrel Pie”
:: 4863 Rainier Ave. S.
:: Seattle, WA 98118
:: GatherSeattle.com
‘Blurtit’ on squirrels
The squirrel is a part of the rodent family. It is the common name for rodents of the Sciuridae family. In the spoken English language it generally refers to members belonging to the genera Sciurus and Tamiasciurus.
These are tree squirrels that have large bushy tails. They are indigenous to Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Similar genera are found on the African continent. However, flying squirrels, and ground squirrels like the woodchucks, prairie dogs, and chipmunks are also included in the Sciuridae.
Anomaluridae, an unrelated family, also has ‘squirrel’ in its common name, but they are generally referred to as scaly-tailed flying squirrels.
The word ‘squirrel’ has its origins in the Old French ‘esqurial’, which has its origins in the Vulgar Latin word ‘scuriolus’.
The pronunciation for this name varies. —Blurtit.com/…
But golly.
I just can’t get over the name nutria.
What kind of name is that?
Wow.
How funny. Yugo and I just discovered a lake down the street from us that has beavers and nutrias in it!!! A bizarre thing to find in the middle of a Seattle neighborhood…
I recall a funny conversation at the Case party concerning those fuzzy little rodents…there are few down by one of our job sites near the Montlake Playfield. We had a long debate whether it was an actual Nutria or a local Muskrat. Great feed btw!
Thanks for the comments, Demelza and Devlin.
I’m glad you’re paying attention to Seattle’s fauna exotica!
Sadly, the ‘coypu’ or nutria is a real threat to our region’s eco-balance. Yesterday’s “update” from the AP above is actually word for word from a press release in Apr. ‘06, and the problem has worsened. these guys eat through root structures, lake embankments, and gardens, and have up to 12 offspring a year! They’ve got no sufficient predatory foe in urban areas, so they’re free to multiply incredibly fast.
http://www.nutria.com/site5.php
They came here from the bayous in the Southeast where they are hunted, eaten and despised for the damage they’ve done to the wetlands, but are orginally from Chile and Argentina. I’ve seen them at Martha Washington Park in south Seattle and they are destined to be in every body of water in the state. ‘Twould be good, sorry to say, to get a handle on the infestation. If you see them, report it and, if you can, set ‘humane’ traps. The .gov folks will come and get ‘em.
The disease thing is yet another dimension to consider. Yech!
Tess,
Thanks for the comment. Rats, mice, squirrels and now nutria — however cute they might be, yes, we realize it’s a problem. It’s notable though that the overpopulation of a pest often occurs where they are over-bred (for, say, fur industry) or the environment changes suddenly due to human intervention.
Btw: is nutria plural? If so, a single nutria would be nutrius? That’s too close to nutritious!