#0012 · 🦊 mammals
Eurasian Beaver
🇳🇱 Europese Bever ·Castor fiber
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The Eurasian beaver or European beaver ( Castor fiber ) is a species of beaver which was once widespread in Eurasia. It was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum; and by 1900, only 1200 beavers survived in eight relict populations in Europe and Asia. Reintroduced through much of its former range, it now occurs from Great Britain to China and Mongolia, although it is absent from Italy, Portugal, the southern Balkans, and the Middle East.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 329 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #12 most seen of the mammals in NL.
- 29,589 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Eurasian Beaver
- Nederlands
- Europese Bever
- scientific name
- Castor fiber
- class
- Mammalia
- order
- Rodentia
- family
- Castoridae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- in NL
- native
- sightings in NL
- 329
- sightings in Europe
- 25,098
- sightings worldwide
- 29,589
- GBIF records in NL
- 62,675
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Castoridae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 43793, Wikidata Q181191, GBIF 4409131, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.