title

Formation of a stable colony of nutria (Myocastor coypus) in the lower reaches of the Dnister River (Ukraine)

author(s)

Mykola Rozhenko (orcid: 0000-0002-3471-6790)
Mykola Stepanоk (orcid: no)

affiliation

Lower Dnister National Nature Park (Odesa, Ukraine)

bibliography

Theriologia Ukrainica. 2025. Vol. 29: 135–141.

DOI

language

English, with Ukrainian summary, titles of tables, captures to figs

abstract

The formation of a nutria population in the floodplain of the Lower Dnister, an alien species for the region's ecosystems, has been analysed. The frequency of nutria occurrence in the natural conditions of southern Ukraine, particularly in the Odessa region, coincides with the high demand for fur in the 1980s and 1990s, which is associated with the mass breeding of these animals in private farms, from where they escaped. Data on the periodic occurrence of nutria in the natural ecosystems of the Odesa region have been summarised. Until the early 2000s, due to cold winters, they were unable to form natural habitats. At that time, information about such observations most often came from the north of the Odessa region — from the Podilsky, Oknyansky, Shyryaevsky and Zakharievsky raions. Seven out of ten reports of nutria sightings in the wild within the Odessa Oblast came from these areas. At the beginning of the 21st century, information about nutria sightings in the hunting grounds of the Odesa Oblast began to arrive evenly from all districts of the Oblast, indicating the stability of the nutria settlement process throughout the Oblast. Since 2000, about 60 such reports have been collected. The first reliable record of nutria in the lower Dnister River was made at the Kuchurgan Estuary by colleague O. Arkhipov, who managed to photograph the animals in July 2024. However, verbal reports of the presence of nutria within the Lower Dnister Park began to arrive regularly only in 2023. The collected material (about 30 reports) allowed for an analysis of the distribution of nutria by habitat within the park. This species is characteristic of such biotopes as water areas surrounded by systems of embankments in the form of dams and mounds, generally the coastal waters of the Dnister Estuary in places where semi-submerged trees carried by the river current are concentrated. These areas are key habitats for nutria, but they are also attractive and characteristic of native predators — European mink and river otters — which may prey on young nutria. Possible competitive relationships between two invasive species — nutria and muskrat — for food resources are considered, since both species are phytophagous and feed mainly on the roots of aquatic and marsh vegetation.

keywords

nutria, population formation, population dynamics, Dnister, Black Sea region

references

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