Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! From the responses I
received, most people thought MUSKRAT was more likely, but a few
thought NUTRIA. Apparently nutrias do live in Western Washington.

Looking at the pictures in my mammal guide, nutria looked right and
muskrat way off, but now I've found some muskrat pictures on the web
that are pretty close too. I'm comparing pictures of the two animals
swimming, since that's how I got the best look. It could be either one.
I may be stumped.

Regarding what Guy McWethy wrote below, this guy was along the pond's
shore in broad daylight when I startled him into the water. I'm not
sure how big a soaked muskrat looks versus a fluffy dry one or the same
for nutria, nor have I seen how much smaller my cat would look soaked,
so the size is hard for me to judge. He was pretty substantial while
soaked, but given the soaked fur factor I'll revise it to say he was
probably at least as big as a soaked cat.

He gave the impression of two sections while swimming: a big robust
capybara-like head, and a body, separated by a dip at the shoulders. I
didn't notice how prominent his whiskers were, nor did I notice bright
orange nutria teeth and I don't remember anything about the whiskers.

I've had very good looks at otters and this wasn't one.

Here are some pictures that look like what I saw:

billed as muskrats:
http://www.oxygengroup.com/earthwatchinstitute/erwin/ewgifs/304-2-3.jpg
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/art/muskrat.jpg
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/mammalogy/mamwash/onzi.html (big
head, long thick tail, though I didn't see my critter clearly on land,
he ran into the water too fast)

billed as nutrias:
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/mammalogy/mamwash/Images/
nutria.jpg
(check out that URL!)
http://www.iisgcp.org/EXOTICSP/images/nutria/nutria-USGS.jpg

So...I'm stumped.

Alyssa Sampson
Maple Leaf
Seattle
alyssasampson at comcast.net







On Mar 24, 2004, at 10:00 AM, Guy McWethy wrote:

> Alyssa,
> from your description, probably a Nutria. They are
> getting fairly common in W. Washington. I saw several
> dozen down in the Julia-Butler-Hansen NWR the last
> time I was there. Generally a little smaller than a
> beaver, more prone to grazing on the shoreline. And
> that narrow tail. Also appear to have longer, more
> pale whiskers than the Beaver. You will seldom see a
> beaver on shore during the day, or even at dusk. I've
> seen Nutria on shore grazing in the middle of the day.
> Nutria are NOT native to North America. They were
> imported for their fur, and escaped (or were released)
> into the wild. They can cause significant shore line
> damage in some areas (Florida, I believe, has been
> having some problems). All the usual problems of an
> intorduced species.
> They are kinda cute, in a homely sort of way, though
> ;)
>
> Guy
> --- Alyssa Sampson <alyssasampson at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> Can someone tell me what Capybara-like giant rodent
>> inhabits the
>> mysterious, tree-surrounded western pond at the
>> Montlake Fill? Ok, it
>> wasn't that big, I think too small for a beaver and
>> no bigger than my
>> cat. >
>> Looking at a mammal field guide, NUTRIA looks right.
>> Does that sound
>> right?
>> Alyssa Sampson
>> Maple Leaf
>> Seattle
>> alyssasampson at comcast.net
>>
>
>
> =====
> Guy McWethy
> Renton, WA
> mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com
>
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