Castor

Beavers are large semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver and the Eurasian beaver. Beavers are the second-largest living rodents, after capybaras, weighing up to 50 kg (110 lb). They have stout bodies with large heads, long chisel-like incisors, brown or gray fur, hand-like front feet, webbed back feet, and tails that are flat and scaly. The two species differ in skull and tail shape and fur color. Beavers can be found in a number of freshwater habitats, such as rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. They are herbivorous, consuming tree bark, aquatic plants, grasses and sedges.

Castor

Steve from Washington, DC, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
beaverPBDB
Sits inside
CastorinaePBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Castoridae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 7.246 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 209 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 209 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 209 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 209 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 16 of 209 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 48 of 209 occurrencesPleistocene — about 125 of 209 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 8 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 15 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 47 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 134 occurrences7.246 Mya – 11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

209 occurrences of Castor on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

209 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

34 formations

San Joaquin — 35.90°N, 120.00°WAlkali Canyon — 45.84°N, 119.29°WAlkali Canyon — 45.68°N, 120.15°WGlenns Ferry — 43.60°N, 116.80°WGlenns Ferry — 42.82°N, 114.95°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.42°N, 1.72°EUnterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°EChoremi — 37.38°N, 22.09°EMcKay — 45.50°N, 118.80°WRingold — 47.00°N, 118.50°WRingold — 46.30°N, 119.10°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WMcPherson — 38.30°N, 97.60°WSnake Creek — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBon Homme Gravel — 43.00°N, 97.40°WSeymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°WKingsdown — 37.04°N, 100.48°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°WSt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WCrooked Creek — 39.00°N, 98.20°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.33°EApolakkia — 36.08°N, 27.80°EDursunlu — 38.28°N, 31.91°EKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°ESanta Maria di Ciciliano — 42.65°N, 12.49°ESilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Castor has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 152 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Castor and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Castor and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,013 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 201 sites for Castor, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

134 references

Each of the 209 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 122 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Castor

Credit
Steve from Washington, DC, USA
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Castor canadensis · ibm:gpp:CNMA 4037

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCastorinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758