Details

COLNH:1979.1163.1

Colchester Collections

coypu, skin

This is the skin of a female coypu. The coypu is a large beaver-like rodent native to South America. It was introduced to the UK in the 1920-30s as individuals escaped from fur farms. They adapted to life in the UK and successfully bred in the wild, becoming particularly well established across East Anglia. Coypu have a high reproductive rate with females able to give birth to litters of 4-5 young every 4 months. They have no known predators in the UK and were able to spread along rivers so that by the 1960s, they were well established, reaching a peak population of around 200,000 individuals across the East of England. This large population caused damage to waterways, undermined flood defences and increased the risk of serious flooding. Coypus destroyed important habitats for native species such as the Bittern as well as destroying valuable crops. In the 1960s a project was started to eradicate the coypu with the the last wild coypu removed in 1989. There have been no confirmed reports since of coypu in the wild.

Zoology, Animals, Mammals

Myocastor coypus (Coypu), Muridae (Rat, Mouse And Vole)

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