When you hear the name “Mountain Beaver”, you most likely automatically relate it to one of Canada’s National Symbols, the Beaver, Eh!?

Mistakenly thought to be overall the same as the Canadian Beaver, the Mountain Beaver has lived in the shadows for many years. With this blog, I try to share the “voices” of those who are unheard, and inform others of the problems they are facing. Being Endangered, I decided that the Mountain Beaver would fit perfectly for an informative blog. I hope more people will get to know this special mammal, and encourage the protection of its important habitat.

Contrary to its name, the Mountain Beaver is actually very opposite of the Beaver that originally comes to mind. Being In a genus all its own, and being the only living member of its genus (Aplodontia), they are known as the longest living rodents; Dating back 40-50 million years ago. Their Habits and characteristics, give us some insight into their secretive lives in the moist underground burrows of the Mountain Beaver world.

They are located throughout the Pacific Northwest of North America. Mostly Coastal British Columbia; The Cascades Mountain range; Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, and Siskiyous Mountains.

The Mountain Beaver is a rare sight to see indeed. Being nocturnal, they clearly come out most during the night-time – although, they have been seen collecting food, and being active during the day.

Even though they share a similar name, the beaver and mountain beaver are inconsistent in resemblance, and body make-up. With a short tail ( 1-4 cm) and a smaller body overall, I find the Mountain Beaver to look endearingly similar to a rat/guinea pig. Their fur color is Brown, but can vary with different subspecies (of which there are 7). Reddish-brown, or even a darker, a more black shade, can be seen on some others.

These historic rodents live in burrows made in, mostly, soft, moist, ground. They skillfully build these burrows with tunnel ling that lead to different chambers within the burrow. One of these chambers acting as storage for their hard scats -Yes, scats!
They re-ingest their soft scats -What better way to get that nutrition? And then disregard the non-useful/tasty ones (hard scats) to the chamber.
The Mountain Beavers burrow will be in an area with much vegetation – being herbivores, they, like me, are what you may call “green eaters!”.
They even munch on plants that most other mammals do not: Bracken and Sword fern.

However, as is pretty obvious, the threat that these historical mammals face is largely due to the destruction by man to its habitat – the trees, plant life it relies on for all nutrients – and the cleanliness of the water. The Mountain Beavers have a poor kidney system, and in due to this, are not able to concentrate urine effectively – this makes daily water intake (20% of its body weight) extremely vital for the Mt. Beaver.

Producing young once a year, and in a very short breeding season (Feb-April), they have a low reproductive rate. The litters only consist of 2-3 young. The first year is an important one to succeed for a toddler Mt. Beaver – with predators, such as coyotes, owls, and bobcats, they also need to learn the survival habits of their kind -after that first year, they will have a better chance of survival for 5-10 years more (approximate life-span).

There is no current estimation on how many actually reside in the wild. However, there is no doubt that the conservation for this mammal must continue to grow. With the sight of a Mountain Beaver being already rare, I would hate to have it go from rare to never, or impossible. They are an important part of our system, and a respectful rodent whose history dates back farthest of its kind. They are a true gem if you ask me, and like any gem they must be protected. To protect the Mountain Beaver, and other species, we need to take action towards also protecting their forests, trees and water.

C.Coughlan