Close encounter

Today we spoiled Omo a bit and went to another place for his morning walk. We went to the Hochwasserrückhaltebecken (flood retention basin) in Ober-Ramstadt, created a couple of years back to stop the frequent flooding of the "city".
We spotted some little animals swimming in the water, looking like rats. Five of them. Another pedestrian told us it were young nutrias. And we should take care of the parents, as they would tend to defend their off-spring.
The little ones were curious, one of them came to me within 50-60cm. The main is without zoom, the first extra with 5x zoom. Extremely cute, those little furry mammals.
Nutrias are not native in Europe. They were imported for fur farms. It is said that with the end of the cold war and the loss of the importance of nutria fur, the farms in Eastern-Germany were closed and the animals released into freedom. Since then they have behaved quite invasive and destructive. Too many of them now, ruining the banks of many rivers and lakes.
The parents were indeed a bit aggressive. In my second extra you can see how papa nutria tried to impress me (he and the mother actually came so close in such a speed that I rather pulled back), with mouth open.
The third extra shows clearly the difference between nutria and beaver. A nutria can be 50cm long (and boy this dad was!), but unlike the beaver their tale is round like the tale of a rat. The beaver's tale is more like a blade.
Thanks to cathy1947 for hosting the Tiny Tuesday challenge.