Beaver

The beaver is a semi-aquatic rodent native to North America and Europe.

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North American Beaver Castor Canadensis (Public domain picture, from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service full size image)

The beaver is best known for its natural trait of building dams in rivers.

The European beaver, Castor Fiber, was hunted almost to extinction in Europe, both for fur, and for castoreum, a secretion of its scent gland believed to have medicinal properties. Since its near-extinction, the beaver is being re-introduced throughout Europe. The beaver became extinct in Britain in the sixteenth century: there are proposals, and a great deal of interest, in reintroducing the European Beaver to Scotland.

Links:

• A website about reintroducing the beaver to Scotland