Water Rat

Water Rat [Coypu, Nutria]
Tikus Air Koipu in Malay

Myocastor coypus

About me
Hello my name is Nina and this is my brother, Stuart. We are quite shy and enjoy spending our days eating, swimming and sleeping. You can tell me apart from my brothers, as I am the smallest and I will "clap" my front paws for food during feeding times with our keepers! We flew in from Dubai Aquarium in 2010 to begin our new life here at Aquaria KLCC, which we love!

Interesting Facts about me
While we look like a large, brown rat we are actually more closely related to the domestic guinea pig! We have four huge orange front teeth, which we use for chewing our food. We are purely vegetarian, and can eat up to 25% of our body weight every day! In the wild we live beside rivers and streams, and are excellent swimmers. Some features that allow us to swim confidently include our webbed hind toes, waterproof fur, and long, round tails that can be used as a rudder. In some countries we are farmed by humans for our meat and fur.

Where can you find me in Aquaria?
You can find me at the Stream.

Size & Weight
I'm currently 6.5kg but my friends have been known to grow up to 10kg.

Diet
My favourite meal would include carrots, cucumber, string beans, broccoli and pumpkin.

Habitat & Range
We live beside rivers and streams, and dig our burrows into the banks. We originally come from South America however we have been introduced by humans into other countries such as North America, Europe and Asia.