Coypu

Sunday
It was another sunny day, and Laura had asked if after church we could go by a few places from her past. So first we drove by the Polyclinique in Fontainebleau, where she was born, then drove out to Fontaine-le-Port, where we had lived the last four years before moving to the U.S., and where she had attended the École Maternelle (nursery school or pre-school). We had a stroll around the village, past the school, the church, the mairie and the old lavoir (wash-house) which is located on a little stream which flows into the Seine, and where we would take the children to watch the coypus. Roger and I had been back a couple of times in the last eighteen months but hadn't seen the coypus, though a resident in one of the adjacent houses had told us they were still there. Today, however, we were in luck, since someone had dumped quite a load of old baguette on the ground which was being enjoyed by a couple of swans and this coypu. The coypu (or ragondin in French) is native to South America and was introduced to France in the 19th century for their fur, and have since spread throughout the country. Resembling a large rat or perhaps a Beaver with a rat like tail they grow to 40–60 cm in body length and have a 30–45 cm tail. They have a coarse, darkish brown outer fur with a soft dense grey under-fur. They have webbed rear feet and large bright orange-yellow incisors. Adults weigh 5–9 kg. Being semi aquatic they are always in or around water: rivers, lakes, canals, marshes and ditches where they normally feed on a range of aquatic plants and other vegetative matter including maize and fallen fruits. They are regarded as pests, since they undoubtedly cause serious damage to the quality of the environment they inhabit with serious consequences for native species and the wider environment.