What sort of creature is a coypu?
Coypu patch on the muzzle, webbed hind feet, and large, bright orange-yellow incisors. The nipples of female coypu are high on her flanks, to allow their young to feed while the female is in the water. A coypu is often mistaken for a muskrat, another widely dispersed, semiaquatic rodent that occupies the same wetland habitats. The muskrat, however, is smaller and more tolerant of cold climates, and has a laterally flattened tail it uses to assist in swimming, whereas the tail of a coypu is round. It can also be mistaken for a small beaver, as beavers and coypus have very
Coypu farms and were reported in the wild as early as 1932. There were three unsuccessful attempts to control coypu in east Great Britain between 1943 and 1944. Coypu population and range increased causing damage to agriculture in the 1950s. During the 1960s, a grant was awarded to Rabbit Clearance Societies that included coypu. This control allowed for the removal of 97,000 coypu in 1961 and 1962. From 1962 to 1965, 12 trappers were hired to eradicate as many coypu as possible near Norfolk Broads. The campaign used live traps allowing non-target species to be released while any coypu caught were