Castor canadensis

The North American beaver is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver. It is native to North America and has been introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe. The North American beaver is one of the national symbols of Canada and the official state mammal of Oregon and New York. North American beavers are widespread across the continental United States, Canada, southern Alaska, and some parts of northern Mexico.

Castor canadensis

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
American beaverPBDB
Sits inside
CastorPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Castoridae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Castor
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 2 of 67 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 52 of 67 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 13 of 67 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.2–1.0 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.0–867 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences173 ka–0 Mya — about 41 occurrences1.4 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

67 occurrences of Castor canadensis 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

67 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

10 formations

McPherson — 38.30°N, 97.60°WSeymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°WCrooked Creek — 39.00°N, 98.20°WAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WSilver Bluff — 32.56°N, 80.29°WWando — 32.62°N, 80.62°WShuler — 32.71°N, 96.71°WTen Mile Hill — 32.97°N, 80.17°WCanepatch — 33.68°N, 78.88°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Castor canadensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 56 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Castor canadensis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Castor canadensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

847 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 65 sites for Castor canadensis, 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

47 references

Each of the 67 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. 35 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 canadensis

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

Structured light scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Castor canadensis · PSAL:ARCH:A194

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itCastor through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Kuhl 1820