# Is it a rat or is it a beaver....non!



## Hezbez

We were recently watching some beaver/otter like creatures swimming about in the river at the Chateau de Chenonceau.
Hubby though they might have been beavers - I thought they look more like giant rats!

Well I asked the girl in the gift shop what they were, her English was as good as my French - so she took me to the soft toys that were for sale and produced a stuffed 'ragodin'.

Has anyone else seen these creatures?

http://www.magix.info/us/le-ragodin.image.47320.html


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## Sprinta

Coypu 8) 


myocaster coypus


aka 'kin 'uge rat :lol:


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## Grizzly

Yes, they're coypu. Not uncommon in UK rivers either. They escpaed from fur farms way back.

It's an offence to feed them in France as they eat all sorts of native river life and you often see notices on river banks to this effect.

G


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## bognormike

coypu?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu


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## peejay

I thought they were Beamots but what do I know :roll: ....

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-1082112.html#1082112

Pete


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## Wilmannie

Saw them on the Canal de Midi - locals said they were coypu.


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## 747

It's a while since I last saw a Beaver.


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## Spacerunner

I've seen (I think) a beaver on a lake in a french campsite. Had a big squarish head, size of a shoebox, almost.


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## Hezbez

747 said:


> It's a while since I last saw a Beaver.


Well someone had to say it :roll: 
Not surprised it was 747 :lol:


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## JeanLuc

Could be a Coypu or possibly Muskrat as there are quite a lot of those in the rivers of France. Also a large brown creature that could, at a glance, be mistaken for an Otter. The latter is much sleeker and has a flatter head and thicker tail at the base where it attaches to the body. Your picture shows a creature with a rat-like tail.

However, there are European Beavers in the rivers of northern France. Having watched the muskrats from the bridge at Chinon over several evenings, we were rewarded with the sight of a pair of Beavers one night - around 11 pm. They played in a pool under the bridge for about 30 minutes before swimming off upriver. You can distinguish the Beaver quite easily if you get a decent view of its tail: it is noticeably flat and wide.


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## brynric

I thought coypu had been wiped out from British rivers. They became a problem as they were non indiginous and had no natural predators.


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## gaspode

There are lots of coypu in French lakes and rivers, but there are also many Muskrat which are commonly mistaken for Beavers.
http://www.lost-in-france.com/wildlife-in-france/196-muskrat

The main difference is size, muskrats are smaller (about twice the size of the rat we all know and love) whereas adult coypu can easily be the size of a small dog. They're both very common in France and can often be seen swimming across rivers. We recently watched a family of six coypu living on an old millpond next to a campsite in Montignac and saw several along the Vezere. We often see muskrats in the Sarthe, anyone who has stayed on the municipal site at Beamont-sur-Sarthe has probably seen them in the river there.


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## Hezbez

Well it looks like there were coypu - which are one and the same thing as ragondin apparantly;

From Wikipedia - 
In France, the coypu is known as a ragondin. In Dutch it is known as beverrat (beaver rat). In Italy, instead, the popular name is, as in North America and Asia, nutria, but it is also called castorino (little beaver), by which its fur is known in Italy.

There were about 5 of them sitting about 10 feet from us on the river bank and another couple swimming. They were pretty tame.

If anyone's at Chenonceau Chateau look out for them in the river as you cross the wooden bridge from the gift shop to the entrance. We saw them there at dusk two nights in a row.


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## pneumatician

Almost certainly Coypu although we have seen Beaver's on the Tarn several times now.

During the day you can watch the Vultures soaring and from about 20.00 hrs Beavers in the river.

Steve


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## Biglol

Coypu is what it was, they shoot them in France as they are a pest, not seen one in the uk

Beaver on the local news seen in East Devon last week, it was in a garden pond not far from me. I thought they needed running water


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## zulurita

We saw this one at Stenay Aire on our last trip.


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## randonneur

When you had Coypu in the UK they were mostly in Norfolk where they ruined the riverbanks, they are vegetation eaters, so there was a cull but they have started to come back. They are a menace here and some Frenchmen when they catch and kill them make pate with them, not tried it yet but don't think I want to.


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## Grizzly

If you do the river walk from the Camping de la Montagne Verte in Strasbourg there are lots of them on the river bank sitting under the notices telling you all about them. 

G


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## Hezbez

randonneur said:


> ...some Frenchmen when they catch and kill them make pate with them, not tried it yet but don't think I want to.


Rat Pate - YUK!


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## Richar

Apparently, the ragodin was introduced to France from S. America as they eat copious amounts of waterweed. They were put to work to keep the canals free of weed. One unwanted side-effect is that they burrow and undermine the banks.

Richard


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## Grizzly

randonneur said:


> ...... them make pate with them, not tried it yet.... .


How do you know ???

:wink:

G


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## me0wp00

Coypu and we have lots of them here, quite dangerous when you come across them in the dark. I once saw a Parisian reverse the car when he came across one dead on the side of the road and shove it in his boot. After some conversation he declared it was for pate and for the fur.... 
YUK !!! especially as I know it had been lying there for at least 3 days


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## randonneur

Grizzly said:


> randonneur said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...... them make pate with them, not tried it yet.... .
> 
> 
> 
> How do you know ???
> 
> :wink:
> 
> G
Click to expand...

Well, the Chateau at the back of where we live had them in his lake so he asked the local Frenchman to get rid of them, so he did and told the Chateau owner that he would bring him some pate when it was made.


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## Grizzly

Grizzly said:


> How do you know ???
> 
> :wink:
> 
> G


Ah ! but how do you know you've not eaten ragondin pate (in some local restaurant ?) without knowing what it was ? ( ...is what I meant !)

G


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## Zebedee

Grizzly said:


> Ah ! but how do you know you've not eaten ragondin pate (in some local restaurant ?) without knowing what it was ? ( ...is what I meant !)
> G


*Pate de campagne* . . . a very apposite and accurate description methinks!! 8O :lol: :lol:

Dave :lol:


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## Grizzly

Zebedee said:


> Grizzly said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ah ! but how do you know you've not eaten ragondin pate (in some local restaurant ?) without knowing what it was ? ( ...is what I meant !)
> G
> 
> 
> 
> *Pate de campagne* . . . a very apposite and accurate description methinks!! 8O :lol: :lol:
> 
> Dave :lol:
Click to expand...

Indeed ! Full of nutria-ents no doubt.

G


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## Zebedee

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Très drôle Grizz. :wink:


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## lesanne

Hi, the ragodin/coypu''''''if you visit La Tranche Sur Mare, the little resturant near the market place is called La Ragodin which actually serves up the pate, never tried it but my french frends say its like our black pudding in taste, sorry not for me and i live here, we see them nearly every day.


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## MoonSurfer

it's a coypu, they used to be in the UK, but where culled to extinction, as they caused a lot of damage. They are not native in the UK and were imported for the fur farms.


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## Zebedee

This picture is the tell tale if you think it's a beaver.

Beavers have big flat tails, a bit like a frying pan without a handle.

Little ratty tailed jobbies like the one below are ragondin/coypu. (The second "n" in ragondin appears to be optional! :roll: )

Dave 

.


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