📷 Per Harald Olsen · CC BY-SA 3.0
📷 Juliux
📷 Alex Zelenko
IUCN: Least Concern
Eurasian Beaver
Castor fiber
KingdomAnimalia›PhylumChordata›ClassMammalia›OrderRodentia›FamilyCastoridae›GenusCastor
About
Eurasian beavers reshape whole valleys by felling trees and building dams that slow and clean water, creating wetlands used by fish, amphibians, birds, and insects. Family groups live in lodges with underwater entrances and slap their broad flat tails on the water to warn of danger. Hunted to near extinction for fur and castoreum by 1900, they have recovered through protection and reintroductions and are now welcomed back as a keystone species across Europe.
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds with wooded banks
🍃Diet Herbivore — bark, twigs, aquatic plants, and coarse vegetation
📏Size & Weight Body 74–90 cm; tail 30–40 cm
•weight 11–30 kg
⏳Lifespan 10–15 years wild
🗺Range Much of Europe and northern Asia after widespread reintroductions
MammalRodent
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds with wooded banks
🍃Diet Herbivore — bark, twigs, aquatic plants, and coarse vegetation
📏Size & Weight Body 74–90 cm; tail 30–40 cm
•weight 11–30 kg
⏳Lifespan 10–15 years wild
🗺Range Much of Europe and northern Asia after widespread reintroductions
Photo Credits
#1Per Harald Olsen · CC BY-SA 3.0
#2Juliux · CC BY-SA 3.0
#3Alex Zelenko · CC BY-SA 4.0
Related Species
