📷 Dickbauch~commonswiki · Public domain
📷 Marcin Klapczynski
📷 No machine-readable author provided. Wsiegmund assumed (based on copyright claims).
IUCN: Least Concern
North American Beaver
Castor canadensis
KingdomAnimalia›PhylumChordata›ClassMammalia›OrderRodentia›FamilyCastoridae›GenusCastor
About
The North American beaver is the continent's most important wetland engineer, felling trees and building dams that create ponds and meadows used by countless other species. Trapping had removed beavers from much of their range by 1900; protection and reintroductions have restored them across most of their historic range. Their ponds slow floods, filter water, and raise water tables, and conservation programs now move beavers to degraded streams deliberately.
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes 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 North America from Canada and Alaska to northern Mexico
MammalRodent
Key Facts
⛰Habitat Rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes 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 North America from Canada and Alaska to northern Mexico
Photo Credits
#1Dickbauch~commonswiki · Public domain
#2Marcin Klapczynski · CC BY-SA 3.0
#3No machine-readable author provided. Wsiegmund assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY 2.5
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