At home: “The Gardener of the Patagonian Wetlands” Part II

Yesterday morning at 2am I got back from Chile, and I can’t resist an immediate follow-up to yesterday’s coypu blog. Here he is, in his rightful home:

This is near the mouth of the Chepu River, on Chiloé Island in Patagonia in Chile.

I will tell you more about Chiloé in later posts, but for now enjoy “our” coypu, the only one we saw:

It walked along the grassy islet, showing its webbed hindfeet:

and its dexterous front ones:

Then slipped into the water and swam off (the video is slightly slowed down):

Ironically, and sadly, while they are becoming invasive in Europe they are becoming rare in Chile, as a result largely of hunting. Our guide Jonathan was quite excited to see one.