Diet of the Coypu (Nutria, Myocastor coypus) in Agro-Systems of Argentinean Pampas

Feeding habits of coypu (Myocastor coypus Molina 1978) in the wetlands of the Southern region of Brazil

“…Although the coypu is cited as a threat to cereal plantations, not only in the places where they were introduced, but also in their natural habitat, there are few studies that try to evaluate the real impact of the herbivores to cereal plantations (Borgnia et al 2000). Being rodents of large occurrence in flooded areas in the state of Rio Grande do Sul -these areas being used for the culture of cereals, especially irrigated rice -it became essential to carry out studies about the coypu's alimentary habits and the possible ingestion of cultured vegetables.…”

“…Since then, it has been used by many authors with different species of herbivores, including aquatic herbivores, like the Amazon manatee (Colares and Colares 2002), and semi-aquatic ones, like the capybara (Borges and Colares 2007). Studies of coypus' alimentary habits have been done in Argentina (Borgnia et al 2000, D'adamo 672 IONI G. COLARES, RAQUEL N. V. OLIVEIRA, RAFAEL M. OLIVEIRA and ELTON P. COLARES et al , Guichón et al 2003, France (Abbas 1988, 1991, and Italy (Prigioni et al 2005).…”

“…The coypu (Myocastor coypus) is an indigenous semi-aquatic herbivorous rodent native from the south of South America, living near watercourses (Borgnia et al 2000). This species has a status of population declining within its native range (IUCN 2009).…”

“…The species was introduced in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Japan, living in the same habitat (Abbas 1991(Abbas , D'adamo et al 2000. In some of these regions, the coypu is an exotic animal; it causes damage to crops, native flora and fauna, and drainage systems (Abbas 1988, Borgnia et al 2000, Guichón et al 2003. They are herbivores with nocturnal habits, with high foraging activity near burrow exits, where they feed on grasses, roots and aquatic plants (Abbas 1988, 1991, Borgnia et al 2000.…”

“…In some of these regions, the coypu is an exotic animal; it causes damage to crops, native flora and fauna, and drainage systems (Abbas 1988, Borgnia et al 2000, Guichón et al 2003. They are herbivores with nocturnal habits, with high foraging activity near burrow exits, where they feed on grasses, roots and aquatic plants (Abbas 1988, 1991, Borgnia et al 2000. They restrict their foraging activities to the surroundings of watercourses with the purpose of reducing energetic waste in escapes from possible predators (D'adamo et al 2000).…”