Other people watch birdies and post flamingos, and I’ve got this. Sorry, not sorry.
I remember a weird series on maybe Discovery Channel about the future of species long after the last human says goodbye. I forget the details but I remember that snails will be huge and this sentence (more or less, I prefer partial memory to Google truth): “The last mammal is being farmed by spiders.” Apparently spiders will grow and smarten and use a surviving species of mammal to attract pray, for which they will have to farm them.
I don’t know if the nutria (Myocastor coypus) will be the last mammal standing but it certainly appears destined for great things. Orange teeth are not a passing fancy but rather a result of the pigment that consists of iron. “The iron in it gives the teeth a tougher and firmer texture, which enables the smoother portions in the back to grind down more rapidly.” The last sentence is taken from the website animals.mom.me, division House Pets. Not kidding. See if you can see it in your home.
These were taken this Saturday by the Orbetello lagoon here on the Silver Coast of Tuscany where I do my grocery shopping, while flight-of-fancy flamingos were catcalling from too far away for my zoom. I’ll take the savvy survivalist shamanic nutria then. As I gazed into its eyes here on the screen, I realised that I’m looking at the future.
The story unfolds in the captions.
Great shots, Manja. Never heard of it, but read now that it has been moved to Sweden as well. I wonder if it threatens our common beaver? New species are almost never good for the native plants or animals.
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Thank you, Leya. They are everywhere, I hear. I have a feeling they are not good for anything much and if we are not careful they will win with these teeth of theirs. For sure they must be a pest in the fields.
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Wow…new for me. And what’s that for smile?? Red teeth??? 🙃😮
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Hihi, RayNot, how rude! Orange. She would bite for less! 😀 Coming soon to the town near you, I’m sure… they spread and multiply like rabbits.
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Nooooo the real winter is coming soon :)) don’t think they’ll survive here :))
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To me they look like they would survive anything. 😀 But they haven’t seen your winters.
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The future is scary….
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Oh yes, in so many ways. Thank you for following me to my next blog, Jan! ❤
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I’m always lulled by the fact that animals like this are cute.
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Lulled to what, Dan? Thinking they are harmless? I’m sure they will take over in due time if nobody does a thing. For now they still keep away from our garden but I can hear them come a-knocking.
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Lulled into just letting them be.
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Lovely writing!! Those orange teeth sure are something. And you better be kidding about those spiders – I can’t stand spiders! 😱 Farming ones would be pure horror!
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Ah, thank you, SMSW. ❤ I should watch again the entire series, it was fascinating. But also long ago, I don't even know the title.
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He kind of reminds me of a Canadian beaver except they have flat tails. Extraordinary shot, MMM.
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Thank you, Susanne. I don’t known about Canada but in Slovenia people do all they can to preserve the last remaining beavers because they are good for the woods. With this beast I don’t think this is quite the case…
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Fascinating critter, but also, wonderful photos!
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Thank you, Joey. I felt safer behind the camera than watching it with bare eyes…
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I’ve heard of nutrias but had no idea about their teeth! Ugh. I’ll take these creatures any day over gigantic spiders …
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Hehe, Lexi, indeed. Good that we won’t be around to witness them start to grow. 😮
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Great visuals and story in the gallery. Glad I’ll be dead when the snails 🐌 and giant spiders 🕷 take over 😵
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Hahha, Lisa, some comfort in that. And thank you! 🙂
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Ah, I remember we talked about these before! They always remind me of “Rats”, a James Herbert novel where giant rats take over the world.
These dystopian creatures are unrelated to otters, right? In Spanish “nutria” means otter, which always throws me off.
– Verne
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Hi, Verne, good to see you come to my next blog. I had a look. You might know it as coypu, coipo, ragondin or castorino. They say otters and them are completely different animals. Luckily I have not read this novel. NOT a fan of rats.
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Is there such a thing as a fan of rats? 🙂
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Yeah! Some have it as pets and love them. 🙂
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Well, I suppose one could rationalize and call them close cousins of cute hamsters and guinea pigs… One could, I can’t 🙂
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Wow. Great photos. Those are some funky orange teeth!
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Thank you, Donna. 🙂 Yes, it makes you wonder why all animals don’t have them if they are so cool. 😀
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Nice photos and captions. As many have commented, the close-up portrait with the orange teeth is excellent!
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Thank you, Rx, I had some fun with it. 🙂
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I just saw my New Orleans post again, and saw your link again. I think I may not have had time to view your post before. Nutria are much bigger than I imagined. I love your tourist food idea. A single nutria could feed a whole family…. ha ha ha 🙂
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Thanks, Crystal. I’m glad you came to have a look. You never know about that tourist food idea… It might be coming true yet.
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