Castor fiber

The Eurasian beaver or European beaver is a species of beaver widespread across Eurasia, with a rapidly increasing population of at least 1.5 million in 2020. The Eurasian beaver was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum, with only about 1,200 beavers in eight relict populations from France to Mongolia in the early 20th century. It has since been reintroduced into much of its former range and now lives from Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia through China and Mongolia, with about half the population in Russia. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.

Castor fiber

Per Harald Olsen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Eurasian 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 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 66 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 66 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 66 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 0 of 66 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 4 of 66 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 15 of 66 occurrencesPleistocene — about 43 of 66 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 2 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.7–4.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 14 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 43 occurrences7.246 Mya – 11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

66 occurrences of Castor fiber 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

66 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

8 formations

Unterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°EChoremi — 37.38°N, 22.09°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EApolakkia — 36.08°N, 27.80°EDursunlu — 38.28°N, 31.91°EKuyal'nikian — 49.70°N, 28.42°EKuchurgan sands — 46.83°N, 29.95°EReuver clay — 50.90°N, 6.45°E

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The named rock units Castor fiber has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 53 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Castor fiber and its relatives

Pleistocene

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

Found in the same rock

644 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 66 sites for Castor fiber, 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

38 references

Each of the 66 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. 26 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 fiber

Credit
Per Harald Olsen
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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 fiber fiber · nhmuk:zoo:362261

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 itCastor through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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