Castor fiber
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) or European beaver is a species of beaver widespread across Eurasia, with a rapidly increasing population of 1.5 million in 2020. 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. It has since been reintroduced into much of its former range and now lives from Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia through China and Mongolia, with about half the population in Russia. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.
Castor fiber was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the beaver in his work Systema Naturae. Between 1792 and 1997, several Eurasian beaver zoological specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, including: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 3 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 7 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 8 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Brno Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Lusen National Park Centre | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Wildlands | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 5 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Oasi Naturalistica di Sant'Alessio | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 7 | AQUA Akvarium & Dyrepark | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 8 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 9 | Zoo La Garenne | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 10 | Ogród Zoologiczny w Katowicach | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Beaver sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 81 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the most-seen of the 14 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Beaver in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, against about 30% in April–May and August–September, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eurasian Beaver sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
4th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Eurasian Beaver sightings, Bavarian Forest National Park ranks 4th at about 40%. The best odds are in Białowieża National Park (Poland, about 50%), Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatia, about 40%) and Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Rodentia
The closest relatives of the Eurasian Beaver that you can see in Bavarian Forest National Park (order Rodentia, Rodents) are Eurasian Red Squirrel (about 30%) and Edible Dormouse (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eurasian Beaver is recorded against all the mammals logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (81 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
