Castor californicus (SciiFii)

The California beaver (Castor californicus), is a species of beaver that originally lived in western North America from the end of the Miocene to the early Pleistocene and was once extinct, but has since been brought back from extinction by SciiFii and introduced throughout the modern rainforests, wetlands, and riverbanks across the western United States and Mexico to help boost biodiversity. The California beaver is similar to but larger than the North American beaver, C. canadensis, being comparable in size to the Eurasian beaver, C. fiber. Its head-to-body length is 80–100 centimeters (31–39 inches) with a 25–50 centimeters (9.8–19.7 inches) long tail length. It weighs around 11–30 kilograms (24–66 lbs). The California beaver is a keystone species, as it helps to support the ecosystem which it inhabits. It creates wetlands, which provide habitat for American water vole, North American river otter, American small-clawed otter, North American giant otter, and American water shrew. By coppicing waterside trees and shrubs it facilitates their regrowth as dense shrubs, thus providing cover for birds and other animals. California beavers build dams that trap sediment, improve water quality, recharge groundwater tables and increase cover and forage for trout and salmon. Also, abundance and diversity of vespertilionid bats increase, apparently because of gaps created in forests, making it easier for bats to navigate. California beavers are herbivorous, eating "water and river bank plants", including tubers, "rootstocks of myrtles, cattails, water lilies", and also trees, including softwood tree bark. Their long appendices and the microorganisms within make possible the digestion of bark cellulose. Their daily food intake is approximately 20% of their body weight. California beavers have one litter per year, coming into estrus for only 12 to 24 hours, between late December and May, but peaking in January. Unlike most other rodents, beaver pairs are monogamous, staying together for multiple breeding seasons. Gestation averages 107 days and they average three kits per litter with a range of two to six kits. Most California beavers do not reproduce until they are three years of age, but about 20% of two-year-old females reproduce. The conservation status of the California beaver is Least Concern due to successful conservation efforts, the California beaver's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.
Category:Animals
Category:Species
Category:SciiFii