Other people watch birdies and post flamingos, and I’ve got this. Sorry, not sorry.
I remember a weird series on maybe Discovery Channel about the future of species long after the last human says goodbye. I forget the details but I remember that snails will be huge and this sentence (more or less, I prefer partial memory to Google truth): “The last mammal is being farmed by spiders.” Apparently spiders will grow and smarten and use a surviving species of mammal to attract pray, for which they will have to farm them.
I don’t know if the nutria (Myocastor coypus) will be the last mammal standing but it certainly appears destined for great things. Orange teeth are not a passing fancy but rather a result of the pigment that consists of iron. “The iron in it gives the teeth a tougher and firmer texture, which enables the smoother portions in the back to grind down more rapidly.” The last sentence is taken from the website animals.mom.me, division House Pets. Not kidding. See if you can see it in your home.
These were taken this Saturday by the Orbetello lagoon here on the Silver Coast of Tuscany where I do my grocery shopping, while flight-of-fancy flamingos were catcalling from too far away for my zoom. I’ll take the savvy survivalist shamanic nutria then. As I gazed into its eyes here on the screen, I realised that I’m looking at the future.
The story unfolds in the captions.
The first sighting. 
Fifteen minutes later here it is again, moving towards the road. 
Where is it going? Shopping for fish? At that moment an Irish setter scared it back to the water. 
I followed. 
It exudes a kind of dangerous calm. 
Not the prettiest of things. 
Especially when you see it in full. 
Run for your lives! 
Because here it comes. 
To pose. 
Smiling for the camera. 
It almost comes out right in front of me but decides I’m not safe. 
Following the ducks. 
Pretty. From afar. 
Zen but also not. 
A strong push-pull. 
Ahhh, and now it’s scratching like a pup. This should be my final click. 
As I was leaving – another one? Nah…
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