Beaver Lake
What are some species of freshwater mammals in Texas?
I am in Brownsville, Texas, and there is what appears to be a lake freshwater near where I stay. We saw two creatures, similar to the size of an otter or maybe a beaver, swimming in water and on land but could not identify them as it was dark with little light. They seemed to swim very rapidly and dark in color.
It was more probable beaver, muskrat, or nutria. Beaver Pic: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/beaver.jpg Muskrat Pic: Pic http://eliot.needham.k12.ma.us/technology/lessons/animals/images/muskrat1.jpg Nutria: http://www.bio.tu-darmstadt.de/zoology/koch/nutria . jpg I believe the River otters are Very Rare in Texas. If it was thinner and weasel like, then you saw an otter (http://www.nps.gov/archive/romo/images/resources/checklists/mammals/med_river_otter.jpg ). Otherwise, I stick with one of the aquatic rodents.