I happened to catch sight of it through my kitchen window.
A big brown creature in the yard, over by the birdbath.
First thought: Neighbor’s cat.
But in the milliseconds it takes to process thought, I knew the creature was too big, too low to the ground, too oddly-shaped, too uniformly brown to be the cat.
Oh! A groundhog.
They’re pretty common around here, usually sighted standing up by the roadside like little totems.
The groundhog sniffed the air like a dog…what does it smell?
I grabbed my phone for a photo. Better yet, a video…the granddaughters will want to see this…
The groundhog bunched itself up. Humpbacked, it made an about-face and trotted away alongside the fence toward the woods.
That’s when I saw its tail.
A very long, very ratlike tail.
You are not a groundhog.
Their tails are furry. Wider, flatter.
Clearly not a beaver, although, come to think of it, how does one tell a beaver from a groundhog unless one actually sees the tail?
What ARE you, strange creature?
A muskrat.
I showed the video of the muskrat to my husband.
“It’s HUGE!” he said. “I thought muskrats were a lot smaller.”
“It has that rat tail,” said I.
I showed the video to friends at church.
“It’s not a muskrat,” said one, an avid outdoorsman. “It’s a nutria.”
My husband and I have lived in these parts for over thirty years and have never seen a nutria before (to our knowledge; maybe a former “groundhog” or two may have been this creature instead?).
We had never even heard that nutria live ’round here.
My daughter-in-law, a Louisiana native, knew it right away: “Oh, a nutria rat!”
I looked them up.
Nutria have frothy white whiskers and giant, terrifying orange teeth. They live in marshlands. This one was headed back through the woods toward a field; marshes are nearby, but in all the recent rains, everything out here is marshy. Nutria also detroy wetland ecosystems (I learned on Wikipedia that Louisiana loses wetland acreage the size of a football field every hour). Needless to say, the creature is a rodent. Invasive. A nutria can weigh upwards of twenty pounds. They carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans.
I stopped reading these fun facts and switched to symbolism instead.
In various cultures, nutria stand for good luck. Balance. Humility. Resourcefulness. Strength. Resilience. Prosperity. The interconnectedness of all things.
I’ll be honest: It had a rather friendly face (I couldn’t see the teeth).
Its rather inocuous name means “mouse-beaver.”
In Brazil, however, nutria are called ratão-do-banhado: big swamp rat.
I gotta say the Brazilians hit the tail—er, nail—on the head.
*******
with thanks to Two Writing Teachers for the Tuesday Slice of Life Story Challenge
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lit bits and pieces 
Well, now that’s a slice of life you don’t see every day! A nutria. Who’d’ve thunk? I wonder if the weather with all the flooding and rains from Helene is bringing wildlife into different parts of the state. When I first started reading your post, I knew you were having an Ada Limon experience – – Give Me This. The waddle-thieving groundhog, stealing the tomatoes. And I hear Mary Oliver, too, from Sometimes…..Instructions for living a life: : Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. You did all this in one slice.
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I confess to being awed and a wee bit horrified by the nutria, Kim – that rat tail was unsettling. Why else would I have warmer feelings if it had been a beaver (Narnia!) or groundhog (Limon!). Yet the face…the whiskery face was sweet (with teeth hidden).I WAS astonished. And grateful for the presence of mind to have videoed.
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Of course, a nutria! I sent it to you from down south. They are pesky, but I have a soft spot for them. Once we went out canoeing in Lake Martin, I heard one cry and had a milk let-down feeling. They sound just like crying babies. I have a nutria poem in Bayou Song. I’m not sure how they got all the way up to you, though. Strange.
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Ewww, look too much like rats for me- I am glad you could look kindly on it!
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I enjoyed your thought process here, and I was right there with you- a cat, no a groundhog, no, a beaver, no…
Very interesting to see a new swamp creature! I have heard of nutrias but never (knowingly) seen one. My favorite lines were “standing by the roadside like little totems” and how you went from fun facts (increasingly grim!) to symbolism. Finally, your info on wetland loss led me to an interesting conversation with my NOLA son-in-law, and helped me understand the reasons for that serious rate of loss.
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From the title, I thought your post was going to be about Dennis! Instead, I got a surprising nutria-rat story! I hope Dennis didn’t see him!
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Dennis didn’t see the nutria, as he now lives at my newly-married son’s house – I am DOGLESS, Joanne! It’s TRAGIC! But back to the nutria – it’s bigger than Dennis and I really don’t mind never seeing it again, honestly.
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The nutria was bigger than Dennis? Ugh! I wouldn’t want to see him again either. And Dennis? You’re dogless? Can’t be! Your son will have to give all of us updates Dennis’ Doings!
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You constructed this evolving story so well. I was right there with you, wondering what in the world the unknown creature was, as you revealed detail after detail. The big reveal surprised me! I had no idea there were any nutria in the US! (I’m pretty sure we saw some in the Bahamas years ago.) I like how you opted to move away from pesky facts and move into symbolism. Well done!
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Oh, Fran. I needed this moment today! I’ve watched that video and I just loved watching the nutria as you followed it from window pane to window pane.
And now you have me wondering. I wonder what nutria do in (more likely FOR) their natural habitats down south. What leads cultures to see them as symbols of luck, prosperity, balance? Because as an invasive species, I’d imagine they’d be seen as everything the opposite.
Who knows? I might even do a lil’ research…
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Fran, what a story! Since I never heard of nutria, I am glad that you shared what it is. I don’t think I would like to see this animal in the wild. We have beautiful deer famiies and a geese ongregation here in Gainesville, VA. The title of your post is intriguing but when I saw the nutria scotting around the property, I was horrified. I am sure I would be scared seeing the animal because rodents are not appealing to me. The last line, “I gotta say the Brazilians hit the tail—er, nail—on the head”, is a humorous one to end your blog.
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I haven’t seen the nutria since, Carol, and I am glad – it is bigger than my son’s dachshund! I am glad to know what it is, however – and I remained awed, as I so often am, by nature and its great diversity. Even when it’s a bit terrifying.
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