Castor fiber
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Beaver sighting in Saint Petersburg on a given day, based on 48 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 6th most-seen of the 14 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and October–May
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Eurasian Beaver in Saint Petersburg on a given day, against under 5% in June 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.
15th of 18
Of the 18 cities where we can rate Eurasian Beaver sightings, Saint Petersburg ranks 15th at about 10%. The best odds are in Vienna (Austria, about 30%), Warsaw (Poland, about 20%) and Berlin (Germany, about 20%).
Same order: Rodentia
The closest relatives of the Eurasian Beaver that you can see in Saint Petersburg (order Rodentia, Rodents) are Eurasian Red Squirrel (about 40%), Striped Field Mouse (about 20%) and Brown Rat (about 20%), 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 Saint Petersburg (48 verified sightings), 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.
