American Beaver

American Beavers

  • Scientific Name: Castor canadensis

  • Kingdom: Animalia

  • Phylum: Chordata

  • Class: Mammalia

  • Order: Rodentia

  • Family: Castoridae

  • Genus: Castor

  • Species: C. canadensis

Fun Facts

  • Beavers are herbivores. They are known for their consumption of bark and cambium, the soft tree tissue under the bark, but they also eat aquatic vegetation, roots, and other greens.

  • Beavers play an important role in preventing erosion and maintaining the wetlands they inhabit.

  • Despite extensive hunting and trapping for their pelts in the 1900s, beaver populations have recovered thanks to conservation initiatives.

  • Beavers have large, orange incisors due to the iron in their protective enamel coating.

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