The Nutria is a large, South American semi-aquatic rodent introduced to North America for the fur trade that has become highly invasive in Gulf Coast marshes and Mid-Atlantic wetlands. Its voracious feeding habits devastate native marsh vegetation, converting productive wetlands to open water in a process called 'eat-outs.' Orange-stained front teeth are a distinctive and unusual feature of this species.
Habitat
Freshwater and brackish marshes, rivers, and swamps
Diet
Marsh plants, roots, rhizomes, and aquatic vegetation
How common
Common
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