#0047 · 🦊 mammals
Coypu
🇳🇱 Beverrat ·Myocastor coypus
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The coypu (from Spanish coipú , from Mapudungun koypu ; Myocastor coypus ), also known as the nutria , is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent. It has been classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae. However, studies based on the comparison of DNA and protein sequences showed that Myocastor is nested within Echimyidae, the family of the spiny rats. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 6 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #49 most seen of the mammals in NL.
- 43,306 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Weighs up to about 6.7 kg.
- Scientifically named by Juan Ignacio Molina in 1782 (244 years ago).
- Not originally Dutch: it was introduced to the Netherlands.
fact sheet
- English
- Coypu
- Nederlands
- Beverrat
- scientific name
- Myocastor coypus
- class
- Mammalia
- order
- Rodentia
- family
- Echimyidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- in NL
- introduced
- sightings in NL
- 6
- sightings in Europe
- 22,960
- sightings worldwide
- 43,306
- GBIF records in NL
- 11,273
- weight
- 6.7 kg
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1782 by Juan Ignacio Molina
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 43997, Wikidata Q187704, GBIF 4264680, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.