# Identify this rodent **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526 "2018-07-08T17:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/21 "2018-07-09T14:07:14Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Wonder how the taste compares to[Cane Rat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_cane_rat). Not cane rat, but [here is a nutria taste test](https://boingboing.net/2013/04/29/meat-from-a-20-kb-swamp-rat-t.html). [ul][li] **Nutria Snack Stix:** ‘Overall, what you’re[/li]going to notice on the first bite is a strong smoky natural meat flavor, but one that is well countered by the Cajun seasonings and a moderate amount of heat that builds up with each chew.’ [li] **Nutria Cajun Sausage:** ‘These chunky links tasted wild and exotic… One of us thought it tasted like a morgue, while another tasted a hint of[/li]walnuts.’ [li] **Nutria Jambalaya:** ‘It really shined in this dish as it easily took on all of the[/li]spices & flavors associated with Louisiana cooking. The long simmer and slow cooking time resulted in a soft, moist meat and a jambalaya with a light tanginess and a smoky background in each bite.’[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/22 "2018-07-09T14:30:47Z")
I’m not comfortable with the idea of eating rodents. Then again, I used to love frog-legs until a muscle physiology researcher studying the gastrocnemius muscle of frogs told me that half of his preps had to be discarded due to too many parasite cysts in the muscle. Nutria. Tastes like rabbit or squirrel? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/23 "2018-07-09T16:13:53Z")
I like squirrel, tasted nutria once at a primitive event I was attending. I didn’t care for it. I thought it had a strong taste. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/24 "2018-07-09T16:33:58Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I like squirrel, tasted nutria once at a primitive event I was attending. I didn’t care for it. I thought it had a strong taste. You’re trying to throw us off your trail, aren’t you? What does honey badger taste like? 😉 Nutria sounds like an artificial sweetener. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/25 "2018-07-09T18:31:21Z")
Beaver is supposed to be delicious. The animal I mean, if you have to make a joke make sure it’s one we haven’t heard before. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/26 "2018-07-09T21:04:22Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > \*\*Beaver is supposed to be delicious. > \*\* > The animal I mean, if you have to make a joke make sure it’s one we haven’t heard before. It’s not. Dry, hard and tastes like aspirin; actually, I wonder if it might taste _of_ aspirin, since a great part of their diet is salix bark. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/27 "2018-07-09T21:54:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [ul][…] > [li] **Nutria Cajun Sausage:** ‘These chunky links tasted wild and exotic… One of us thought it tasted like a morgue, while another tasted a hint of[/li]walnuts.’ > […][/ul] Morgue? Well, that just raises all kinds of questions. I definitely won’t be trying nutria anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/28 "2018-07-09T21:55:22Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > It’s not. Dry, hard and tastes like aspirin; actually, I wonder if it might taste _of_ aspirin, since a great part of their diet is salix bark. I’ve never eaten castor oil, but I’ll guess that it wasn’t properly de-glanded. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/29 "2018-07-09T23:24:49Z")
I saw a nutria swimming in a waterway in Buenos Aires. I said to the tour guide, Hey, there’s a nutria! She told me I was wrong because there were no nutria in BA and I must have seen something else. However, there are and it was. Oregon has nutria, beaver, and otter, so we get good at sorting them out. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/30 "2018-07-10T00:23:29Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I saw a nutria swimming in a waterway in Buenos Aires. I said to the tour guide, Hey, there’s a nutria! She told me I was wrong because there were no nutria in BA and I must have seen something else. However, there are and it was. Oregon has nutria, beaver, and otter, so we get good at sorting them out. Well, they call them “coypu” or “coipo,” “nutria” is a word for otter down there. But yes, they’re native to that part of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Oddball\_92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b3f665/32.png) [@Oddball\_92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oddball_92)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/31 "2018-07-10T01:40:06Z")
Yep, it’s a Nutria. I have killed scores of them over the years. Yes they can be eaten and there may come a time in my life when I have to eat them to survive…but that time ain’t now, so I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/32 "2018-07-10T17:24:34Z")
We call them muskrats in Minnesota - is it the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/33 "2018-07-10T17:52:24Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > We call them muskrats in Minnesota - is it the same thing? No - [muskrats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat) are smaller and native. It’s a very interesting parallel though, since it has also been widely introduced for its fur outside of its native range and it too is also pesty and damaging in some of those areas. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/34 "2018-07-10T18:26:03Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > We call them muskrats in Minnesota - is it the same thing? Nutria are about 3 times the size of the largest muskrat. There is a small population in Minnesota but you are probably actually seeing muskrats. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/35 "2018-07-10T19:25:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve heard they’re good to eat. From what I learned on “Seinfeld” though, they make terrible hats. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/36 "2018-07-11T13:51:27Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > No - [muskrats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat) are smaller and native. It’s a very interesting parallel though, since it has also been widely introduced for its fur outside of its native range and it too is also pesty and damaging in some of those areas. > [@Colibri](#): > > Nutria are about 3 times the size of the largest muskrat. There is a small population in Minnesota but you are probably actually seeing muskrats. OK - I googled them. I see the difference now. I have to say our muskrats are much cuter! It says Nutria are native to South America. How the heck did they get way up into NW US? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/37 "2018-07-11T14:56:02Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > It says Nutria are native to South America. How the heck did they get way up into NW US? They were introduced for their fur. Fur farming of nutria was popular in the 1930s but the market collapsed in the 1940s and many captive nutria were released, where they bred successfully. ---
**Author:** ![Oddball\_92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b3f665/32.png) [@Oddball\_92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oddball_92)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/38 "2018-07-11T21:48:02Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > OK - > It says Nutria are native to South America. How the heck did they get way up into NW US? I guess they migrated up the rivers. I remember seeing them in Texas as far back as 1967-68. I used to hunt them along the San Jacinto, Trinity, and Neches rivers. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/39 "2018-07-11T22:10:51Z")
> [@Oddball\_92](#): > > I guess they migrated up the rivers. I remember seeing them in Texas as far back as 1967-68. I used to hunt them along the San Jacinto, Trinity, and Neches rivers. They didn’t get to Oregon from Texas. They were introduced separately to Louisiana, Oregon, the Chesapeake Bay, and probably other places. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526/40 "2018-07-12T14:22:26Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > They didn’t get to Oregon from Texas. They were introduced separately to Louisiana, Oregon, the Chesapeake Bay, and probably other places. What, you haven’t seen photos of nutria families, with all their possessions loaded on some rickety car, taking Route 66 from Amarillo to the West Coast in the 30s? 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-rodent/817526.md?page=3)