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Information about Giant Beaver

Giant Beaver
Fossil range: Pleistocene
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Castoroides ohioensis, Field Museum

Castoroides ohioensis, Field Museum
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Rodentia
Family:Castoridae
Genus:†Castoroides
Species:†C. ohioensis
Foster, 1838
Binomial name
†Castoroides ohioensis
Synonyms


†Castoroides nebrascensis Barbour, 1931[]
†Burosor efforsorius Starrett, 1956[0]


The Giant Beaver (Castoroides ohioensis) was a huge species of rodent, with a length up to 2.5 m (8.2 feet)[0] and an estimated weight of 60-100 kg (130-220 lbs), although some estimates have ranged as high as 220 kg (485 lbs).[2] It lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch, and went extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago.[3] The arrival of humans in the Americas is thought to be a factor in its extinction. It was one of the abundant Pleistocene megafauna - a wide variety of very large mammals that lived during the Pleistocene.

Fossils of the Giant Beaver are concentrated around the Midwestern United States in states near the Great Lakes, particularly Illinois and Indiana, but specimens are recorded from Alaska and Canada to Florida.[0] Specimens from Florida have been placed in a subspecies, Castoroides ohioensis dilophidus, based on differences in premolar and molar features.[4]

One of the big differences between the Giant Beaver and modern beaver species other than size is their teeth. Modern beavers have chisel-like incisor teeth for gnawing on wood. The teeth of the Giant Beaver are bigger and broader, and grew to about 15 centimeters (6 inches) long.[3] In addition, the tail of the Giant Beaver must have been longer but narrower, and its hind legs shorter.[0] Its great bulk might have restricted its movement on land (although large squat-legged hippopotamuses can move well on land with little difficulty).

The first Giant Beaver fossils were discovered in 1837 in a peat bog in Ohio,[3] hence its species epithet ohioensis. Nothing is known on whether or not the Giant Beaver built lodges like modern beavers. In Ohio, there have been claims of a possible Giant Beaver lodge four feet high and eight feet in diameter, formed from small saplings.[3] The recent discovery of clear evidence for lodge building in the related genus Dipoides indicates that the Giant Beaver probably also built lodges.[5]

References

1. ^ Kurtén, B. and E. Anderson (1980). Pleistocene Mammals of North America. Columbia University Press, pp.236-237. ISBN: 0231037333. 
2. ^ Reynolds, P.S. (2002). "How big is a giant? The importance of methods in estimating body size of extinct mammals". Journal of Mammalogy 83 (2): 321-332. 
3. ^ Harrington, C.R. (1996). Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center - Giant Beaver. Retrieved on 2007-09-17.
4. ^ Martin, R.A. (1969). "Taxonomy of the giant Pleistocene beaver Castoroides from Florida". Journal of Paleontology 43 (4): 1033-1041. 
5. ^ Rybczynski, N. (2007). "Castorid phylogenetics: implications for the evolution of swimming and tree-exploitation in beavers". Journal of Mammalian Evolution 14 (1): 1-35. 

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Pleistocene epoch (IPA: /'plaɪstəsi:n/) on the geologic timescale is the period from 1,808,000 to 11,550 years BP. The Pleistocene epoch had been intended to cover the world's recent period of repeated glaciations.
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conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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For other uses of the term, see Fossil (disambiguation)


FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under the DOS operating system.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Mammalia
Linnaeus, 1758

Subclasses & Infraclasses
  • Subclass †Allotheria*
  • Subclass Prototheria
  • Subclass Theria

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Rodentia
Bowdich, 1821

Suborders

Sciuromorpha
Castorimorpha
Myomorpha
Anomaluromorpha
Hystricomorpha
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents
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Castoridae
Hemprich, 1820

Genera
†Migmacastor
†Agnotocastor
†Neatocastor
†Anchitheriomys
†Propalaeocastor
†Oligotheriomys
†Palaeocastor
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Castoroides
Foster, 1838

Type species
†Castoroides ohioensis

Species

†Castoroides leiseyorum
†Castoroides ohioensis

Castoroides
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
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1835 1836 1837 - 1838 - 1839 1840 1841

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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. Usage and terminology are different for zoology and botany.

Zoology

In zoological nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names that pertain to the same taxon, for example
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1900s  1910s  1920s  - 1930s -  1940s  1950s  1960s
1928 1929 1930 - 1931 - 1932 1933 1934

Year 1931 (MCMXXXI
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1920s  1930s  1940s  - 1950s -  1960s  1970s  1980s
1953 1954 1955 - 1956 - 1957 1958 1959

Year 1956 (MCMLVI
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Pleistocene epoch (IPA: /'plaɪstəsi:n/) on the geologic timescale is the period from 1,808,000 to 11,550 years BP. The Pleistocene epoch had been intended to cover the world's recent period of repeated glaciations.
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ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth's climate, resulting in an expansion of the continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.
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Pleistocene megafauna is the set of species of large animals -- mammals, birds and reptiles -- that lived on Earth during the Pleistocene epoch and are now extinct. These species appear to have died off as humans expanded out of Africa and Eurasia, the only continents that still
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Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes in North America on or near the Canada–United States border. They are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth. The Great Lakes–St. Lawrence system is the largest freshwater system in the world.
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State of Illinois

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Official language(s) English[1]

Capital
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Flag of Indiana Seal
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Official language(s) English

Capital Indianapolis (785,597)

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Flag of Alaska Seal
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The premolar teeth or bicuspids are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant, making eight premolars total in the mouth. They have at least two cusps.
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Molar may refer to:
  • Molar (tooth), the fourth kind of tooth in mammals.
  • Molar (Physics), a body of matter as a whole, perceived apart from molecular or atomic properties.
  • Molar (M), a unit of concentration, or molarity, of solutions equal to 1 mol/L.

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Castor
Linnaeus, 1758

Species
C. canadensis
C. fiber
†C. californicus
Beavers are semi-aquatic rodents native to North America and Europe.
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Incisors (from Latin incidere, "to cut") are the first kind of tooth in heterodont mammals. They are located in the premaxilla.

Function

In many herbivorous or omnivorous mammals, such as the human and the horse, they are adapted for shearing sharply.
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