How to Draw a Coypu

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Coypu in 6 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.

The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.

Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.

At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Coypu.

Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.

How to Draw a Coypu - Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: First, draw the nose and mouth. Start with a curved triangle, with the nostrils forming the two top corners and with two large teeth, like rats, above the bottom point of the chin.

Step 2: Then draw the head, ear and eye. The face is flat and snub like a beaver’s, and the ears are short. The eyes are large ovals.

Step 3: Add the whiskers, with two rows of long, wispy lines coming from just below the nose.

Step 4: Draw the upper body, with one fluid, curved line from the back of the head to the tail. Draw a long, rat-like tail, and the hind leg as a flat C-shaped line.

Step 5: Then add the foot at the bottom of the curve of the leg. Coypus have large, webbed back feet that are much lighter than their fur.

Step 6: Draw the front foot, which is smaller than the back and at the end of a much narrower leg. Like beavers and other rodents, they look and function like our hands.

Interesting Facts about the Coypu

The coypu is a large type of semiaquatic rodent that makes its home in South America but can also be found in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The coypus will make dens along the edges of bodies of water where they eat the river plants. These rodents are considered to be pests by many, one reason is when they eat plants they will eat the stems and leave a large remainder of the plant to die.

Did you know?

  • Coypu often go by the name Nutria as well
  • Nutria has two different types of fur, one outer coat that is long and shaggy that is a yellow or brown color and then a much shorter and thin inner fur that is gray color
  • The coypu is very similar looking to beavers but have a very different tail which is hairless
  • These animals are often in the water and the land so they have a special nose that closes automatically when they enter the water, and special valves in their mouths so that they can keep water out of their lungs
  • They spend half of their life in the water and can stay underwater for 5 minutes without having to return to the surface for air
  • Coypu are nocturnal, so they are mostly active at night!
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