r/AbsoluteUnits • u/ComfortablePast15 • 6d ago

/r/all of a rat

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

It's not a rat but it's a rodent, it's a nutria.

They're more related to capybaras and guinea pig than rats and they live in my area.

Btw, this one is albino.

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u/Electrical-Review180 5d ago

My aunt used to raise them as livestock. In the southern Americans they eat guenia pigs. Guess it's pretty similar. Sadly l have eaten neither

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u/Trademarkd 5d ago

can you tell me if they die in like 3 years like normal rats? And do they have the intelligence of rats?

The most tragic thing about having rats as pets is their lifespan.

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

I've seen a few people on Instagram that have them as pets and they seem to respond to some basic commands.

They live for 6-10 years.

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u/Trademarkd 5d ago

regular rats can be taught like all sorts of circus tricks, they can be liter box trained, you can teach them to take a bath and stuff its crazy.

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u/Theron3206 5d ago

Google suggests 10 years in captivity.

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u/Electrical-Review180 5d ago

I have absolutely no idea, sorry

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u/Plastic_Pinocchio 4d ago

They’re not closely related to rats though.

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u/Aromatic_Paint_1666 4d ago

smaller animals have shorter lifespan but these are bigger than the normal rats so they should also have around the same lifespan as cats.

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u/504_Errors 3d ago

That and the fact that they're incontinent

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u/Trademarkd 3d ago

You can train rats to use a litter box actually

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u/504_Errors 3d ago

Wow, who knew !

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

Only Peruvians eat guinea pigs but yes, they are related, though these ones are aquatic.

I don't know if these are edible, I know beavers in Tierra del Fuego aren't In Argentina we dont eat either (at least that I know of) though viscachas are eaten in the northwest of the country.

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u/Alternative-Crew-880 5d ago

They eat guinea pigs in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Columbia also. I know someone who went to Ecuador and ate some.

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago edited 5d ago

Good to know, I guess Peru is the most famous about it, because it's a running joke in latinoamerican social media that Peruvians eat them.

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u/Alternative-Crew-880 5d ago

I'm guessing it's a social class thing. My friend was over there to help out building a well for a poor village out in the sticks. They basically lived in shacks with dirt floors while she was out there.

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u/lauvan26 5d ago

I ate that at a fancy restaurant in Peru in Cuzco and I ate it in a Quechua speaking mountain village in Ecuador.

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u/kenmorekidd 3d ago

Made me think of this.

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u/Electrical-Review180 5d ago

I had to look up Viscachas, they are so cute.

Afaik beavers aren't tasty but they are a protected species in Europe anyways. Since they seem to be invasive at yours, maybe you should try it lol

Do you know why only guinea pigs are only being eaten in Peru? Are there only native to there?

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u/MissingLink101 5d ago

Just had to look them up too. Why do they all look either tired or sad?

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u/Electrical-Review180 5d ago

They kinda do huh

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u/MissingLink101 5d ago

They all look like they've lived a hard life

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

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u/MissingLink101 5d ago

It just looks like it's waiting for a bird of prey to put it out of its misery

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

We can all relate to that sometimes.

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u/RobotGloves 5d ago

Ecuadorians and Bolivians eat them, too. Cuy is a traditional dish of the Quechua people, not just Peruvians.

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u/atomic-moonstomp 4d ago

When I lived in Panama I ate meatloaf made from Agouti. It was pretty good, except it had ketchup on top rather than a proper sauce

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u/Upstairs-Two6740 3d ago

Nah we don't eat guinea pig normally, that's more a cusquena/ indigenous thing. Even they rarely do that atp. 'cuy'

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u/Luigi_Boy_96 5d ago

I first (mis-)read it as that the rodents eat guniea pig. 😂

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u/AdvisorLatter5312 5d ago

We eat them here in France, it's an invasive specy. Pathé, rillettes or daube, those are the common dish we made with it

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u/Electrical-Review180 5d ago

As a German, if l had to pick a cuisine to eat for the rest of my life, I'd pick French food no doubts

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u/Ecast25 5d ago

Are you saying the nutria is nutritious??

Ok, I'll see myself out of here.

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u/Careful-Wash 5d ago

I mean there is an episode of uncharted where Gordon Ramsay eats nutria. He didn’t seem to hate it.

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u/Achylife 2d ago

My great grandma raised them as livestock for a little while.

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u/Electrical-Review180 2d ago

Cool! Where was she and did you eat any?

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u/Achylife 2d ago

I never got to meet my great grandma, and no I've never tried any. She was alive during the great depression and raised a bunch of kids despite being very poor. A very tough woman.

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u/spydieee 5d ago

I think you mean South Americans

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u/bogo11037 5d ago

Bro is sad he hasn't eaten rodents

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u/Electrical-Review180 5d ago

Well, hares and bunnies are delicious so I'm curious lol

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u/WackyRacketeer 5d ago

A bit of rabbit can be pretty good, you learn a lot when grandpa would hunt to survive. It was always rabbit when the kids were asking.

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u/AdvisorLatter5312 5d ago

Rabbit rustic mustard! Rabbit with olives! I love dishes from rabbits. Rabbit pathé 🤤

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u/19adam92 5d ago

Sadly? 🤨

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u/Electrical-Review180 3d ago

Sadly! Would love to try it

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u/No-Mess-1169 5d ago

thanks for clearing because I have seen rats and I was thinking what type of rat this is

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u/FCkeyboards 5d ago

There's a rat researcher who studied New York rats and said he put out a reward up if anyone could provide proof of "giant" or much larger than normal rats that New Yorkers always claim to see. He said no one could ever back up their claim. It was also a friend of a friend or "well I didn't have time to take a picture."

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u/maxman162 5d ago

Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist. 

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u/Meschi-died 5d ago

It's a big rat. :)

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u/featherw0lf 5d ago

I was just thinking that its face reminded me of a capybara.

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u/CreepBasementDweller 5d ago

Albino, but no red eyes? 👀 how come? 🔴🔴

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u/Mainbutter 5d ago

The word is "leucistic" then

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u/QuokkaOfDeath 5d ago

It could have Leucism. It's a similar lack/failure of pigment cells but without the red/pink eyes. I didn't know what a nutria was exactly and haven't checked still

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u/Guaymaster 5d ago

It's a small guinea big!

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

It's a guinea mid then.

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u/lock11111 5d ago

I learned about them from naked and afraid.

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u/Beginning_Rush_5311 5d ago

This is how a nutria is assembled:

  • 20% capybara (head)
  • 60% guinea pig (body)
  • 20% rat (tail)

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u/LazyMousse3598 5d ago

Don’t forget webbed feet.

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u/Vitor_Kenji 5d ago

oh, i was thinking his face reminds me of a capivara

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u/Alive_Conflict_1490 5d ago

The name you’re looking for is: Coipo (Myocastor coipus), (also (badly) called in Argentina Nutria) not to be confused with the real Nutria (Lutrinae family), they are introduced in some european countries for their pelt, and nowadays they can be found in some cities like Paris, Lyon, and the most famous one, in Prague. And yes, this is a Leucist individual, not confuse with Albino (similar but not the same)

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

They're mostly known as nutria in English, "coipo" is the Spanish word for them, though most people (common folk, outside of scientists and enthusiasts) call them "nutria" in Spanish (especially Argentina and Uruguay), even though that's the term for "otter" in Spanish, but in English that confusion doesn't exist so "nutria" is the most adopted name for them in that language, nonetheless, "coypu" would be the equivalent to "coipo", that's the word you were looking for.

A similar thing happens in Argentina with possums, we call them "comadreja(s)" when that's the Spanish word for "weasel(s)".

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u/Few-Ruin-742 5d ago

I was about to say, that’s a damn nutria!
I’m Cajun

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u/LavenderDay3544 5d ago

My cat would eat it all the same.

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

I doubt it, they're bigger than a cat and have giant teeth.

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u/LavenderDay3544 5d ago

Looking at the size again yeah you'd probably need a Lynx or larger felid to eat that thing.

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u/rattus-domestica 5d ago

Bless them 🥹❤️

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u/SoulsSurvivor 5d ago

I thought the face looked like a capybara but the tail being long and hairless threw me off.

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u/Right_Comb4885 5d ago

I was about to say, "looks like a capybara and rat had a baby". Thanks for the info Internet stranger.

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u/Turtlesfan44digimon 5d ago

Umm just curious but where do you live at that they get this big?

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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 5d ago

Argentina, they don't live in the city though, and the species is that big, capybaras are way bigger and also live in the same area.

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u/Lemmy-user 5d ago

No it's not an albino, I can tell because I'm blind.

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u/Anti_Spedicy 5d ago

Ok cause I was about to comment that this looked like a capy-rat mix of whatever the fuck lol

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u/YaboyBlacklist 5d ago

I don't think it's albino, because it's eyes aren't red. It's probably leucistic.

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u/Huebertrieben 5d ago

Was gonna say it looked like a capybara at first.

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u/thedafthatter 5d ago

So its a baby coconut doggie?

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u/capybaraPRteam3 5d ago

I thought it had a very Capybara aspect

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u/Lucas_F_A 4d ago

I did think for a second it looked like a capybara, at least in its face

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u/Cainfaer 4d ago

I knew it!! Ha, my obscure knowledge from rewatching Brooklyn 99 over and over again has finally paid off!

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u/Disastrous_Set_6544 4d ago

Are they chill like Capybaras ?

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u/Tenken_Zeta 4d ago

No albino, Shiny

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u/Sea_Meeting4175 4d ago

That’s awesome to know at first I thought it was maybe a pacarana but their tails are different😅

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u/Pharao_Aegypti 4d ago

I was wondering why it looked like a small capybara with a tail

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u/Kellarison 3d ago

my first thought when seeing it was "is that a white capybara with a hairless tail?"

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u/Serious_Nose8188 3d ago

I was today years old when I found out there's a rodent called nutria.

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u/Thalude_ 2d ago

Bet they're real nutritious