The last record of beavers in Scotland is in the seventeenth century when German traders came to Inverness to buy pelts. Beavers were last recorded south of the border in Wales when the monk Geraldus was recruiting for the Crusades in the twelfth century. Beavers were hunted for their exceptionally warm pelts, used to make coats and hats. Hats were also made by shaving off the fur, boiling it and compressing it to make a form of felt. Beavers are vegetarian, eating water plants and willow bark, and grazing on grass.
Beavers build dams from logs and mud if there are no open expanses of water to live in.
The anal gland of the beaver was prized as a source of salicylic acid, a painkiller chemically similar to aspirin. It is Europe's largest rodent, can weigh up to 20 kilograms and lives to about 12 years old. Beavers were popular food at Lent, since church authorities said they were 'of the water' and, like fish, could be eaten. The beaver has been reintroduced to almost all countries in mainland Europe. There are North American beavers in every state of the US and every Canadian province.