Blog posts for 09/2010

A nutria (Coypu) in Settimo

Posted by Webmaster on Monday, 27th September 2010, at 23:15 | 0 comments | Permalink

A nutria (Myocastor coypus), also known as coypu, in the Po River Park in Settimo Torinese, Italy.

Yes, that was an unexpected encounter, in case you are wondering.

Settimo is not exactly known as a town that pays attention to fauna: the town had a steel factory and a chemicals factory near its centre (and several other factories just out of it), and I did not expect to find such a large rodent here. This castorino (little beaver) appears to be living in a lake in the Po River park, together with at least other five specimen. Maybe there are more, but it is not always easy to tell the difference between a castorino and a pantegana (a large country rat), unless you happen to see their teeth: the nutria has unusual orange teeth.

Tags: animals, Italy, pictures, Settimo Torinese