Eurasian beaver | |
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A Eurasian beaver in Norway | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Castoridae |
Genus: | Castor |
Species: | C. fiber
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Binomial name | |
Castor fiber | |
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Castor fiber: Extant (resident) Castor fiber: Extant & Introduced (resident) Castor canadensis: Extant & Introduced (resident)
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The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) or European beaver is a species of beaver widespread across Eurasia, with a rapidly increasing population of at least 1.5 million in 2020.[2] 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.[2] It has since been reintroduced to much of its former range, and now lives from China and Mongolia through Russia, Scandinavia and Eastern, Central, Southern, and Western Europe, with about half the population in Russia.[2] [3][page needed] It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.[1]