Beaver
| Beavers Temporal range: Late Miocene - Recent |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| American Beaver | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Castorimorpha |
| Family: | Castoridae |
| Genus: | Castor Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Species | |
|
American Beaver, C. canadensis |
|
A beaver is a kind of rodent. It is semi-aquatic, meaning some of the time it lives in water, some of the time it lives on land. Beavers can only be found in North America and Europe. In Europe, they almost became extinct (died off), but they are returning. There are beavers living in the Elbe and Rhone rivers, as well as in Bavaria, Poland and Scandinavia. Beavers are known for building and keeping dams in rivers.
Contents |
Kinds of beavers[change]
Currently there are two different species of beaver, the American beaver (C. canadensis) and the European beaver (C. fiber).
The American beaver[change]
This beaver can be found in North America, in Canada, the United States and in Northern Mexico. It is the second largest rodent in the world, and the largest found in North America. The largest rodent of the world is the capybara from South America.
The European beaver[change]
The European beaver is currently an endangered species. It was hunted almost to extinction. This was done because of its fur, and because of castoreum. Castoreum is made by a certain gland, which is also responsible for the smell of the animal..[1] People are currently (2007) reintroducing the beaver, because the important role of the beaver for the ecology of rivers was discovered.[2] Beaver dams (or the small lakes that form) provide a habitat for many species.
Beaver fur[change]
Early visitors that met Native Americans saw them wearing animal skin blankets. The fur on these blankets were good for felting. The Europeans wanted felt hats, and the Native Americans wanted metal: so, fur trading began.
Beaver was the most popular fur for hats. At that time in North America, there were about sixty million beavers. Only the soft inside fur was used for felting. The best time for collecting the beaver's fur was winter, when the fur was thickest. It was also a good time to hunt, since the beaver stayed close to its home in the winter and was easy to catch. The fur trade gave more money to the European traders more than the Indians. The traders made lots of money on the furs they collected; the Indians got the metal tools and pots and beads they wanted, but it cost them their way of life and their land.
Images[change]
-
An American Beaver
-
A (European) beaver in Norway
-
Beavers chopped down this tree
-
Beaver dam near Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
References[change]
- ↑ Gippoliti (2002). Castor fiber. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is near threatened
- ↑ "Europäischer Biber". WWF Österreich. http://www.wwf.at/Projekte/artenschutz/project141. Retrieved August 24, 2006.
- MacDonald & Cook (2000). Castor canadensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
- Castor canadensis (TSN 180212). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 18 March 2006.
Other websites[change]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Castor |
 |
Wikispecies has information on: Castor. |
- Ecology of the Beaver
- Canadian Heritage - the beaver as a national symbol
- The romance of the beaver; being the history of the beaver in the western hemisphere, by A. Radclyffe Dugmore. Illustrated with photographs from life and drawings by the author. Publisher: Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott company; London, W. Heinemann 1914 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries)
